Katie Bool-Shafer never got to watch the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade growing up, and what kid wouldn’t want to watch the ultimate parade of all parades?
While her friends and neighbors clamored around their televisions to marvel at the towering balloons and colorful floats, Katie and her family piled into the car, bound for Marketplace Grille on State Street, where the proprietor—with help from families like Katie’s—provided a hot Thanksgiving meal to individuals experiencing homelessness.
Her parents didn’t frame it as a lesson. It was simply how they spent Thanksgiving, paying attention to those in need and showing up. At the time, Katie didn’t think much about it. Years later, she noticed it had followed her.
Far from the world of social services, Katie built her early career as an event planner. “I loved event planning,” Katie said. “But I felt called to do something different, something more.”
That pull brought her to UPMC and, ultimately, into roles serving her community. She’s now UPMC Health Plan’s Senior Community Relations Manager, where she focuses on charitable giving, community partnerships, and helping manage the UPMC Health Plan Neighborhood Center on East Avenue.
In this role, Katie identifies where support is needed most, then builds the relationships to move that work forward. She’s careful with the language she uses, moving away from “sponsorship,” which often signals a one-time transaction, and toward “partnership,” where organizations share responsibility, stay connected, and work toward goals together.
That collaborative approach carries into how she works with her own team. “It’s always about the team,” she said. “I don’t make decisions without talking to people and hearing their perspectives.”
This commitment shows up in small ways—like starting every community event with a quick huddle so partners know one another’s names and roles—and in larger ones, like helping shape strategies behind the scenes that determine how resources flow into Erie neighborhoods.
It’s the kind of work that often happens quietly, but it hasn’t gone unnoticed. Katie recently received a UPMC ACES Award, which recognizes less than 1% of UPMC employees each year for their above-and-beyond excellence in service.
Katie is quick to deflect credit, but her impact is visible. She doesn’t let funding just land willy-nilly in Erie; she steers it where it’s needed most, connects it to the right partners, and transforms it into something bigger. What arrives as a single investment gets powered up and amplified, sparking meaningful progress across the city.
At times, however, this work is heavier than expected, bringing her face-to-face with the realities of extreme poverty, untreated mental and physical illness, and the limits of the systems meant to hold people up. “I was not prepared for how heavy this is,” she said. “But it affirms the work we’re doing in this space.”
When workday ends, Katie carries home a profound sense of responsibility to the Erie community—sometimes in ways she’s still learning how to manage. “I see how hard the world can be,” she said. At home, that feeling can seep into everyday conversations. When dinner sits untouched or complaints come easily, she gently reminds her kids how different things can look just beyond their driveway.
Thankfully, not every moment carries that kind of weight.
Katie smiles when she talks about the artwork her daughter creates to inspire visitors to the Neighborhood Center, which are often emblazoned with words of affirmation and positivity.
On other days, her three-year-old son greets her at the door and says, “It’s a beautiful day, Mom.”
Simple. Unfiltered. Exactly what she needs to hear.
His words don’t undo what she’s seen. They don’t need to. Both can exist at once: the weight of the work, and the reasons she keeps showing up where it matters.
Years ago, that looked like climbing into the car on Thanksgiving morning, headed downtown before most people had even turned on the parade.
Now, her own children are alongside her, learning in the same quiet way, what it means to show up.
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