Stephanie McAndrew

Branch: Coast Guard

Duty Station: Coast Guard District 7

Number of Deployments:

Number of PCS's: 5

Share your military spouse story:
I met my husband when I was a senior in high school and he was a cadet at the Coast Guard academy. My hometown hosts a fall fair every year, and has a beauty pageant as a part of the fair. I entered the pageant with some friends, and my future husband participated as community service with other cadets to be an escort. We were matched up because of similarities in height. A few rides on the carousel, a potato sack race, and a caramel apple later I accepted his invite for our first official date the following weekend. I may have lost the beauty pageant 17 years ago, but I think I secretly beat all of my competitors. I “won” my best friend, and ace ventures of a lifetime being married to a military member! I grew up in the same town my whole life, and never could have imagined living the life I am now. We moved a few days after our honeymoon from Connecticut to Key West, FL. I think I cried in the car until we reached North Carolina. Moving is scary. Leaving everyone and eveything you’ve been ever known is terrifying. We’ve since moved from Key West to Pensacola, FL, Hawaii, New Jersey and now Puerto Rico. I wouldn’t trade the life experiences I’ve had as a military spouse for anything. I’ve seen so many amazing sights and met even more amazing people. Being a military spouse gives you an incredible ability to conquer challenges and tackle things, and the best part is that everywhere you go there are other military spouses waiting to befriend and support you! I’m excited to see what adventures are in store for our future with the Coast Guard!

Share an example of your leadership experience within the military community:
Recently in Borinquen, Puerto Rico I have served in a leadership role as the director of our Vacation Bible School program in June 2019. During the planning and duration of this program I oversaw and lead training for 20 volunteers. I organized group and individual training and planning sessions for various groups of volunteers to ensure the program ran smoothly. VBS went so well that I felt called to start an Awana program on base. This was a program that the majority of parents here had never heard of. The chaplain on base supported my vision for this program and offered me a leadership position within the chapel as the director of children’s ministries. I organized training for Awana this summer, and coordinated with a seasoned Awana pastor in NJ to fly him for a children’s ministry and Awana training weekend in August. During our Awana program I have been overseeing a group of 15 leaders and 50 children. I have also served in a military leadership position as ombudsman in NJ.

Describe your involvement in the military community:
I became more involved with the spouse and military community during our time in New Jersey when I served as an ombudsman for the unit. When we moved to Puerto Rico shortly after Hurricane Maria I quickly saw that this community was lacking in programs for youth in the chapel. The base is home to the only English speaking church within 40 minutes, so it’s programs are the only ones available to many people who aren’t bilingual. I felt called to start Vacation Bible School summer 2019 at the chapel. The program hadn’t been held in 5 years on base. It was a huge success with 70 kids attending each night. Because of its success I wanted to keep a program going year round, so I started Awana. We began in September and meet every Wednesday with 50 kids! It’s been amazing to give back to the kids in the community. I also created a homeschooling support group for the base, and I like to offer sea glass crafting nights for adults to unwind and craft together.

Describe how you support your community:
I support my community by involved as possible with all of the community events. Living on base in Puerto Rico, and not being bilingual created a unique situation for us here. Many of the programs offered on base are the only ones available to our community because they don’t exist at all off base or if they do they’re held in Spanish. I started a support group for homeschool parents on base to offer a place to share ideas, organize trips, and host get togethers. I also periodically host crafting nights for spouses on base. I support our spouses club by assisting in its events like baking goods for the base movie night bake sales. I also enjoy jumping in to support spouses in a time of need by bringing a meal to help out.

What do you advocate for? Why?
I am an advocate for children’s ministry programs. My goal is to help fill the gap here where programs these kids are used to attending or at least have the option of attending on the mainland don’t exist in Puerto Rico either at all or in our native language. I want every child on base to have the opportunity to attend a fun ministry program where they can feel safe, loved, have fun and hear God’s word. Offering this type of program also offers an opportunity for more spouses as well as active duty members to get involved. Getting involved, staying busy, and having a sense of purpose is so important especially in an overseas unit with unique challenges. Lastly, this program is important because it’s completely free and allows parents to drop off their children and have a few hours to unwind or enjoy a date night. We all know how important that time can be as a military spouse, so I am happy we can offer that to parents as a result of these children’s ministry programs.

How have you spread the message of your platform/advocacy?
I have received access the chapel Facebook pages by the base chaplain to spread the message of my ministry programs. I have also worked with members in our local MWR to have fliers created for these programs. The MWR fliers have been advertised in the local base newsletter, and on screens throughout base including at the CGX. I have built relationships with other club organizers and MWR sports on base to ensure that none of our programs schedules conflict. This has allowed all programs to have the maximum participation by kids and parents. Lastly, I have coordinated with the base All Spouses Club to find the best ways to promote my platform among spouses. With Vacation Bible School, I also communicated with a local missionary to have him come speak at our event on base. This connection has created a relationship between our base chapel and a local church in the community. Our chapel assisted that community by donating school supplies to kids in need this summer.

What do you hope to accomplish with the AFI Military Spouse of the Year® title?
With this title I hope to gain more attention and recognition for not only the needs of the chapel here in Puerto Rico, but also the needs of my entire Coast Guard community. This is a small but ferociously strong community. We're a community who regularly lives life without running water, electricity, and even more importantly without Target! We're a community who works together to fill in the gaps of our needs for services and events that aren't available to us here. My passion here is serving the chapel community, and also supporting my fellow spouses in any other ways that I can. My hope with this title would be shed light on our needs here and help my community grow. Our community lost a great amount of resources and usable spaces during hurricane Maria. As military spouse of the year my goal would be to bring awareness of our community's needs for the benefit of the chapel and the entire Coast Guard community here.

Nominations