Sandi Sale placed the last flower in the
vase of a purple and yellow bouquet, but she wasn’t finished yet. “This is my
signature,” said Sale, as she crowned the creation with a tiny string of twinkling
lights. The glowing touch fits well with Sale’s cheerful personality and even
the metallic sequins on her white jacket.
Putting in the extra effort is how the 66-year-old
approaches her work as an adjunct professor at Northern Virginia Community
College, and how she treated her patients as a nurse and how she mentored women
in jail. Her wide-ranging interests became pieces that all fit together when
she found the Catholic faith two years ago, said Sale.
“Putting faith with my experience and my
knowledge and my passions is crucial for me,” she said. “I waited a lifetime to
get to where I am.”
Sale grew up in Philadelphia and has one
younger brother, Robbie. They were baptized in the Lutheran faith, but as she
grew up, Sale said she never connected with one particular Christian
denomination. She earned a degree in nursing in 1979 and started work at Prince
George’s Hospital Center in Cheverly in the intensive care nursery, often caring
for drug-addicted infants. She also cared for addicted mothers who were
encouraged to abort. “I said, ‘Why are you making these women feel so bad?’ If
we want them to stop using drugs, then don’t make them feel bad — lift them up.”
Sale loved the work, but after a while was laid off.
Her friend encouraged her to work with
detoxing adults at Fairfax Hospital. She told her friend, “I work with babies;
I don’t know how to work with adults.’ She said, ‘Same thing, they just talk.’
” So Sale became licensed through the state as a substance abuse treatment
provider. As her interests and career aspirations grew, her time in the
classroom did, too. In 2000, she earned her bachelor’s in social work and a
master’s in counseling education in 2005, both from George Mason University in
Fairfax.
Sale has worked in mental health, in a
treatment center for youths and in an outpatient facility. One memorable job
was working for the state with pregnant inmates in the five county jails of
Northern Virginia.
“I was doing social work and counseling
groups and case management. The stories you heard were horrific,” she said. But
she also witnessed amazing transformations — inmates who now are married with
children or who own businesses. “I’ve run into multiple people that I’ve helped
and they said, ‘We looked for you.’ There are three women I have known for
years,” she said.
Working in jails piqued her interest in
the criminal justice system and prison management. One of her most recent
educational pursuits was attending the Drug Enforcement Administration training
academy at Quantico. “I can run through a range, I can break down a door,” she
said with a laugh. She volunteers at Prince William County Adult Detention
Center with the crisis intervention team, a group that serves inmates with
mental health problems. She’s proud of
the way the jail guards and staff treat the inmates. Sale said that of the 1,000
inmates, 35 percent have mental health issues. Soon, there will be a wing of
the jail to accommodate them.
“It is the most humane, respectful place
I’ve ever worked,” she said of the jail. She even takes her students on tours
of the facility as part of the class she teaches at NOVA, Narcotics and
Dangerous Drugs. “I’m teaching my students that if you treat someone the right
way, you won’t have half the battles,” she said.
That philosophy extends to the way she
interacts with everyone, including her students. At the beginning of the school
year, she tells them she’s happy they chose to take her class. She gives out her
cell phone number. Sale knows she won’t get inundated with calls, and it lets
the students know she’s there for them. “What if they need me?” she said. “For
some reason people forget to welcome — that’s my keyword. You gave this
wonderful individual a feeling of importance. How hard was that?”
Flowers are another way Sale likes to
spread a little kindness to others. A few years ago, she took a class on floral
design. By happenstance, her teacher was a social worker who donated flowers to
women’s shelters. Sale fell in love with floristry and spent three years off
and on at a floral design school in Manhattan. She also volunteered arranging
flowers at women’s shelters. “It was the first time (the women) ever had
flowers. Can you imagine?” she said. “They would come up to me and cry. I would
teach them and I would say, ‘Put them next to your bedside because you deserve
flowers — always remember that.’ ” Now she has her own small business — Sandi’s
Floral Creations.
A few years ago, Sale took her flowers
and retired to the beach. But after six months, she found she was miserable. So
her brother invited her to stay with his family for a while. One Sunday, she
joined them for Mass at St. Leo the Great Church in Fairfax.
“Everybody seemed so peaceful, and the
welcoming was amazing,” she said. “I said, ‘What planet is this?’ And my
brother goes, ‘That’s our faith.’ I said, ‘How do I get that?’ ” So Sale was
back in the classroom again, this time attending RCIA. In 2017, she was
received into the church.
Sale’s Catholic faith is “the best gift
I’ve ever had,” and so she uses her talents to give back to the church. Sale arranges
the flowers for the altar at St. Leo Church and occasionally at diocesan
events. She likes to volunteer with the youth group and is a member of the Legion
of Mary.
“It is finally a place where I feel I
belong. I was meant to be here, and the joy I have every day from belonging and
finding my path is more than I can ever say,” said Sale. Her hope is to bring
people the light of Christ through all she does. “I waited 60-some years to get
this gift — I want to shout it from the treetops.”