These Are Her Children to Love
by Robert Mitchell
Cathy Shurtleff has no children of her own, but this schoolteacher and Salvation Army lay leader has found a way to make a difference in the lives of thousands of kids.
“I’ve always wanted children, and I’ve realized that I don’t have my own children so that I can be the light for other children,” Cathy says. “I’m able to show them love and show them that they’re wanted because I don’t have my own.”
Cathy is the Young People’s Sergeant Major, commonly known as a YPSM, at The Salvation Army in Findlay, Ohio, about 40 miles south of Toledo. She was the Soldier of the Year last year in the Southwest Ohio and Northeast Kentucky (SWONEKY) Division.
When she is not at the corps surrounded by children, Cathy teaches English to special education students at a public high school.
“I love children, but it’s very good that I don’t have my own,” Cathy says. “I sometimes feel sad about it, but it’s good because I need my space and my time to recoup. It takes a lot of energy to be around the young people all the time.”
Getting her start
Cathy was only 14 when she started teaching at The Salvation Army’s summer day camp in Findlay. Now, she shows up for all corps programming to help with homework, childcare, and teaching. She is also a Corps Cadet counselor and the women’s ministry treasurer and plays alto horn in the band.
Preparing Sunday school lessons has drawn Cathy closer to God as she dives deeply into the Bible’s treasures.
“I go to all of our after-school programs and work with the kids,” she says. “I do what’s needed. I’m there to support the kids and be available. I kind of joke that I live there because I’m almost never at my house.”
Major Dianna Morales, the corps officer in Findlay, calls Cathy her “right-hand woman” who knows the city and connects her to anyone she may need.
“She works full time but is still willing to help anytime I need her,” Morales says. “Most of the time, I don’t even have to ask — she just volunteers. She serves with joy. She loves God and it shows through her love of people especially in kids and teens in our programs and at her job.”
Overcoming the past
That joy comes despite a painful past involving sexual abuse and a divorce earlier in her life.
Cathy, now 44, came to The Salvation Army at age 4 when her parents brought her to church. She quickly became active in after-school programs like Sunbeams, Girl Guards, timbrels, the corps band, and even a traveling puppet ministry.
She began taking her faith seriously when she was about 7 and remembers going to the altar at Camp SWONEKY to give her heart to Christ when she was 9 or 10. Her faith became rock-solid when she took a geology class in college and witnessed God through Creation.
“That’s such a powerful thing,” she says. “That really helped drive me to where I am today. I know that no matter what happens, God’s got me in His hands. He’s going to make everything work the way He needs it to.”
That was certainly the case when, Cathy says, she overcame the trauma of being sexually abused as a young girl. She believes Christ has completely healed her of the resulting anxiety.
“I’ve been able to use that story to help others, and God is still able to use me,” she says.
Being there for others
Cathy later served in the U.S. Army for three years before getting married young and divorcing. “God didn’t want me to be treated like an object,” she says. “I was able to cling to God and grow closer to Him through that.”
2 Corinthians 1:4 says God “comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.” Cathy says she has been able to use her past hurts to help others, including parents and children.
“I have been able to work with kids on some of those situations that I’ve experienced,” she says.
For example, if Cathy senses that a child may be in danger, she says, “I will make that call when I need to. They feel like they can trust me. I want them to be able to stand up for themselves and not lose their voice.”
Meanwhile, many of her fellow teachers have asked her advice because they feel she understands children from her work with The Salvation Army. Cathy’s students appreciate and respect her strong Christian faith and even tone down their coarse language and apologize to her when they cross the line.
When it comes to having a family of her own someday, Cathy says she is “following God’s lead on that.” While the Apostle Paul called singleness a “gift” in 1 Corinthians 7, Cathy says she is open to whatever God chooses in her life.
“I’ve accepted that I’m not going to be able to birth children, but I’m not ruling out the possibility,” she says. “If not, I’m content where I’m at and with what I do have.”
Visit the website for The Salvation Army in Findlay, Ohio.
