SIOUX CITY, Iowa—Sandy Sawyer, classroom aide at Sacred Heart in Boone, IA will receive the “Good Shepherd” award at the Bishop’s Dinner for Catholic Schools scheduled for Sunday, September 22, 2019 at the Delta Hotels Center in South Sioux City, NE.
The “Good Shepherd” award is presented to individuals who are in non-teaching positions within the school. They are nominated by their peers and selected by a committee. Recipients must meet specific qualifications such as going above the call of duty and demonstrating a true passion for their job. Nominees must be employed within the Catholic school systems in the diocese for a minimum of five years.
Sawyer is a graduate of Sacred Heart in Boone, and after graduation entered the Army and served three years. She used the G.I. Bill to further her education at Pima Community College in Tucson, AZ and received her bachelor’s degree from Buena Vista University in Storm Lake, IA and later attended Iowa State University. Sawyer has taught a number of different grades throughout the years, and can be credited with helping to start a preschool at Sacred Heart. Sawyer has been at Sacred Heart in Boone for 36 years; presently, she assists in classrooms whenever she is needed, and teaches religion in first and third grades. Sawyer says she feels very blessed to be a part of the Sacred Heart Family, “I have worked with and still do work with wonderful people who have answered the call to serve God’s children. Is there a more important job than helping one another get to Heaven? At Sacred Heart, I am able to do that.”
Sawyer’s nominator says, “She has a natural way of quietly being a role model for our students through the day in whatever task she is involved. She is comfortable talking with students about the importance a relationship with God can play in their lives.”
Sawyer says she has been blessed with two loving parents, Rich and Kay (deceased) and one sister, Sue, and four brothers, Jeff and Jay Joseph who are still living, and two who are deceased, Jay Michael and Jared.
The Bishop’s Dinner for Catholic Schools is the single largest fundraiser held each year benefiting all 16 Catholic school systems throughout the Diocese of Sioux City. The featured speaker at this year’s dinner is Ennie Hickman. Tickets are on sale now for $125 each with $80 of those dollars going to the school of the buyer’s choice.
For more information, please visit www.scdiocese.org or at 712-233-7524.
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