When Andrea Cacciola and her husband Roy first met in 2014, just before he left for boot camp, they made a pact: “If we can survive boot camp, we can survive anything.” More than a decade later—four states, one child, and countless adventures behind them—they’re back at Training Center Cape May, where it all began.
Roy, now a seasoned Machinery Technician First Class (MK1), was recently promoted and stationed in Cape May, the closest they’ve ever lived to “home.” Cacciola is from Staten Island and her husband from Freehold, so being stationed in South Jersey offered something rare in military life: proximity to family. But for Andrea, this move came with something even more meaningful—a chance to deepen her mission of service to Coast Guard families nationwide.
Now a full-time remote employee with Coast Guard Mutual Assistance (CGMA), Cacciola helps Coast Guard members and families secure grants and zero-interest loans for disaster and emergency support, educational assistance, and day-to-day support.
“I’m not confined to just helping my local community,” she says. “Now I can help everyone.”
In 2024 alone, CGMA delivered $8.5 million in assistance to more than 6,000 clients. Cacciola processes many of those applications personally—reviewing documentation, following up on special needs cases, and often being the one to make the call that changes someone’s day.
“We take those two little words—‘thank you’—for granted sometimes. But when I tell a family they will receive help they need, you can hear the relief and gratitude in their voice. It’s why I do what I do.”
Her passion for advocacy started years earlier, in Key West, where she found herself newly married, stationed in a hurricane zone, and utterly unprepared for the stress of military life with a spouse underway.
“I just knew I didn’t want another spouse to feel like I did in that moment—confused, helpless, with no answers,” she says. So she became an ombudsman, a volunteer liaison between families and command. By the time they left three years later, every local Coast Guard unit had an ombudsman in place. “That made my heart so happy.”
Cacciola’s leadership in Hawaii as District 14 COP Chairperson—supporting commands from Hawaii to Guam—earned her national recognition. She was named 2022 Coast Guard Outstanding Military Spouse by the Navy League of Honolulu, 2023 District Fourteen Ombudsman of the Year, and 2023 Armed Forces Insurance Coast Guard Spouse of the Year.
“Sometimes I feel uncomfortable accepting an award for doing something I genuinely love,” she said. “But I’m grateful they’ve opened doors and brought more resources into the hands of families who need them.”
When she and her family relocated to Cape May in 2023, Cacciola wasted no time connecting with the Cape May County Coast Guard Community Foundation. She quickly found a kindred spirit in Executive Director Marla Brown. “Our passion and energy just clicked,” Cacciola says. Today, she serves as the Foundation’s events coordinator and acting board secretary—though most community members know her as “Marla’s right hand.”
Living in Cape May has been an unexpected delight. “It wasn’t one of our top choices,” Cacciola says. “But from the moment I started researching the Foundation, something changed. Once we moved into housing, met our neighbors, entered the school—our whole perspective shifted.”
They’ve embraced the small-town feel. Cacciola loves brunch at Shamone BYOB, the holiday trolley tours, and the way locals go all out for the holidays.
“People find out you’re a Coast Guard family, and they just want to help. It’s not something you experience everywhere.”
She often drives past Friday the corner of Pennsylvania and Pittsburgh after boot camp graduations in Cape May and sees the Foundation volunteers waving to welcome new families to the fleet. “It reminds me why I’m here,” she says. “While I may not be serving on Active Duty, the Coast Guard—and supporting its members and their families—remains the core focus of my life.”
Contact the author, Collin Hall, at 609-886-8600 ext. 156 or by email at chall@cmcherald.com
