Andrew Sachs Receives ALF’s Distinguished Community Service Award

On May 4, 2025, ALF honored Andrew Sachs with a “Distinguished Community Service Award” during the organization’s annual Gala, which was held at the Nonantum Resort in Kennebunkport, Maine. The following tribute was written by Bob Trapani, Jr., ALF Executive Director:

When the January 2024 storms struck northern New England, their fury and destruction were unlike anything in recent memory. Damage along our coastal communities—and to lighthouses, was severe in many areas.

With no place to hide, lighthouses took the full brunt of heavy seas and nearly unprecedented storm surge levels, which were exacerbated by astronomical tides. The harm incurred in a time span of mere hours during each storm wiped away decades of hard work and financial investment at a number of light stations. Lighthouse stewards could scarcely believe their eyes.

After the shock wore off, those responsible for the care of lighthouses turned their attention to emergency repairs and recovery. However, before you can pick up the pieces, you first must learn where to look, what options are best, and finally, how to navigate through the Federal and State disaster recovery process.

By and large, lighthouse stewards were not well versed in the complex aspects associated with recovery, mitigation and resiliency. A “light in the storm” was needed to help lighthouse preservationists make sense of it all and find their footing once more in the wake of these two extreme weather events.

One such “light in the storm” was Andrew Sachs of Freeport, Maine, who stepped up in quiet fashion to make an extraordinary difference.

Initially, during the first couple of months following the storms, Andrew spent many hours answering questions and providing incredible insight to the American Lighthouse Foundation regarding the process associated with disaster recovery. His knowledge and experience is quite vast. How broad you ask? Very!

Andrew Sachs has over 30 years of experience with all aspects of Disaster Response and Recovery. He was a Founding Partner and Chief Strategy & Implementation Officer at DCMC Partners, which is a leader in providing crisis and program management services, including disaster recovery operations support, long-term recovery organization development, strategic advice, hazard mitigation expertise, grants management, and business continuity planning.

Over his career, Andrew Sachs has served as a trusted advisor to Governors, Mayors, Emergency Management Directors, company executives, and other senior officials, helping them successfully manage their ways through disaster events of all types and sizes. He has led effective teams of as many as 200 people and secured and implemented billions of dollars of recovery funding on behalf of clients to address disaster losses and other recovery needs. Andrew has also played a major role in the development of Federal programs and policies, has designed and implemented long-term recovery efforts for clients to address gaps in government programs, and facilitated and led the implementation of thousands of projects, worth billions of dollars.

As the months fell away in 2024, Andrew Sachs went from a person who kindly gave of his time and expertise to a dedicated volunteer on the American Lighthouse Foundation’s Storm & Mitigation Response Team. With Maine lighthouse stewards ardently seeking resources to make their historic site more resilient, Andrew is a key cog in the Storm & Mitigation Response Team’s efforts to help others with this goal.

Helping others in time of need—this aptly describes the type of person Andrew is. He also is inspiring, always positive and consistently urging those around him on to greater heights. Aim high and believe. We in the lighthouse world can all benefit from a wonderful friend and mentor like Andrew.

Andrew would attempt to minimize his invaluable contributions to the American Lighthouse Foundation and Maine’s lighthouses, but we will have none of that. He is far too humble to tell the story of his steadfast helpfulness to lighthouses. But it must be told and shared as we work together to protect our coastal sentinels from the threats posed to their well-being by climate change. Andrew Sachs is a one-of-a-kind professional and person who shines in all he does!

It gives the American Lighthouse Foundation great pleasure to present Andrew Sachs with a 2025 Distinguished Community Service Award for his wonderful support of our organization’s mission and Maine’s lighthouses.