Saluting Sandi Gorman: T/E’s most impactful organizer. Newly retired, she’ll take a curtain call when T&E Care – the nonprofit she founded and led for 20 years – honors her at its Sept. 20 fundraiser.

For Sandi Gorman, charity has always begun at home.

Scratch that – near home.

With a servant’s heart, a teacher’s dedication and a leader’s vision, she turned a simple idea – local families helping local families – into a crackerjack nonprofit that’s touched thousands.

As impactful as it’s been, T&E Care was but a capstone to four decades of dogged, unpaid service to her community. (She hasn’t taken a paycheck since she left teaching to stay home with her children back in 1978.) Among other leading roles, Sandi:

• Co-founded – and for eight years led – the girls division of Paoli Wildcats Basketball with her husband, Kirk.
• Co-founded FLITE (Foundation for Learning in Tredyffrin/Easttown) and served on its board for 16 years.
• Was elected to the T/E School Board and served for 10 years.
• Founded Conestoga’s After Prom Party, a 20-year tradition that ended during COVID.
• Served as PTO President at Valley Forge Elementary and Valley Forge Middle School and Parent Chair at Conestoga High School and volunteered for numerous TESD committees.

Tireless, compassionate, organized and visionary, Sandi could easily have applied her myriad talents to enrich herself. Instead, she created a one-of-a-kind hyperlocal nonprofit that lends a hand to neighbors who’ve hit a rough patch. Sandi and her army of volunteers – up to 3,000 over 20 years, she estimates – have confidentially paid hundreds of household bills and collected and distributed mountains of school supplies, clothing, holiday gifts meals and gifts and more.

As T&E Care prepares to salute Sandi at its 20^th anniversary celebration, we asked her to reflect on the past, present and future of her pioneering nonprofit.

Twenty years ago, when you and Kirk decided to help three families fleeing Hurricane Katrina, did you ever imagine T&E Care would grow into the community force it has become?

Absolutely not. We thought we’d pay a few bills each year for a few families – that was it. We really didn’t realize how many families there are in T/E that might need help now and then.

 How has T&E Care’s mission expanded?

We started to be more proactive in thinking of ways to lend a hand. Instead of just paying a rent or utility bill now and then, we tried to offer budgeting support to families. Then we realized that if a family couldn’t pay its rent, it probably needed help at the holidays, buying school supplies or affording summer camp. So we started those programs. Then we realized that there were students who couldn’t afford all the costs associated with college, so we started our College Assistance Program.

Do you know of nonprofits in other school districts or townships offering the same kind of help to families?

Over the years we’ve talked with different leaders in neighboring communities about how T&E Care was set up but to our knowledge, none ever felt they could tackle such an ambitious program. We’ve heard that some communities have small programs that help with a bill now and then, but nothing with the scope of T&E Care.

What do you consider T&E Care’s most impactful accomplishment?

I’m very proud that a random group of volunteers with no real training has been able to lend a hand of one sort or another to over 1,000 different families these past 20 years. And we’ve paid over $1 million in assorted bills during that time – all funds raised through local donations. I’m proud that T&E Care has helped our community better understand the need to stand up for each other. We’re all neighbors and it’s wonderful to see folks treat each other with such kindness. Personally, I’ve made so many wonderful friends through T&E Care and that’s a personal result I wasn’t expecting!

Which T&E Care Initiative makes you most proud? 

While paying rent can help a family avoid eviction and that surely feels good, my favorite program has been our College Assistance Program. We felt that if we could help some of the kids from the families we support get a college education, then they might be able to become self-supporting and contributing members of society, which then helps their families in general. It’s worked, too. With college taking four or five years, it takes longer to see the results, but so far over 65 students have graduated college with our assistance and most have jobs in their majors. Some are getting married, buying homes, and even making donations back to T&E Care.

Is there a particular story – a family or student that T&E Care helped – that stands out?

There are so many stories. Many of the families have become friends to us, which is very special. But the one story that sticks in my mind most involves one of our very first families: a mom with three young kids. They had almost no furniture and items in their rental home. We paid some bills to get them stabilized and collected items for their house. We were walking into the house with a box of kitchen supplies and the youngest child looked at us and said, “Is that really silverware? Mom, we have silverware now!!!” I was stunned to think that they didn’t have such basic items. We knew then that starting T&E Care was the right thing to do.

Why did you step back last spring?

After leading the organization for 20 years, it felt like it was time to let others take on that role. The current board is committed to continuing the mission and that makes me very proud. I’m still around for assistance as needed and I will still be working with some of the kids still in college that I started with a few years ago. I’ll stay with them until they graduate.

What’s next for you?

I’m really enjoying having time to be with friends and family and not having to say, “No, I have a meeting,” when they want to get together. I’m living in Liseter [in Newtown Township] now and have enjoyed helping to organize some activities there, and helping with their website and monthly newsletter. I don’t expect to sit around and do nothing!

T&E Care’s Fall Fest – “Cheers to 20 Years” – will be held Saturday, Sept. 20 at 6 p.m. at Waynesborough Country Club. Live music, games, raffles, buffet dinner and a tribute to Sandi Gorman. Tickets from $150. Sponsorships available.