Cathy Andrews, a Senior Assistant Family-Teacher in the Family Home Program at Boys Town North Florida, recently celebrated her 30th year at the North Florida site.
Cathy began her career with Boys Town in 1992 with her husband as Family Teachers. After several years in this capacity, Cathy and her husband decided to move on, but she stayed on as an Assistant Family-Teacher and has done so ever since.
Cathy is known to be a loving and loyal advocate to the Family Home Program and considered the "backbone" of the program. She is described by her employees and youth as dependable, reliable, kind, and considerate. She consistently puts the children and her peers before herself.
Current and longtime Family-Teacher Misty Mackley reflected on the many times Cathy stepped in to help not only the children in her home, but her own children as well. "If you ask our own children they will say Cathy is family," Misty said. "Cathy is a highly skilled individual with a clear passion to serve the children, families, and staff at Boys Town. She certainly has forever left her mark on Boys Town North Florida."
Family Home Director, Nicole Wertz, also acknowledged some of her favorite aspects about working with Cathy, disclosing how inspirational she had been to her, both personally and professionally. When recognizing Cathy at her recent celebration, Nicole gave the following tribute:
"It was our honor to recognize this accomplishment for you. There are so many great qualities you possess – you're a teaching machine, loving, dependable, flexible, always willing to help when needed, and have been a mentor to so many. You've trained every Family Teacher/Assistant Family Teacher at Boys Town North Florida over the last 30 years. When our program gets accolades for model implementation and teaching, it's largely because of you that we've been able to claim that accomplishment. When I was an Assistant Family-Teacher just starting my career, I remember all the advice you gave me and made the choice to implement it and it helped get me to where I am today! We love you and appreciate you and are so glad you are our family!"
Boys Town wants to acknowledge Cathy Andrews for all her hard work and thank her for the many lives that she has touched over her 30-year span at Boys Town!