Member Profile: Patrick Fultz
Even amid busy schedules, members of the Ottauquechee Health Foundation have found ways to support OHF’s work by using the career skills they bring to the table.
Business owner Patrick Fultz has done exactly that. Fultz started volunteering for OHF in 2018, and he and his wife, Leslie Browne, eventually became OHF members in 2021. They own the Sleep Woodstock Motel, and Fultz was able to put his marketing and design background to work for OHF by volunteering his time to help with the Foundation’s logo. Fultz, who has owned DM Creative Group since 1987, also serves on OHF’s Communications and Fundraising Committee. He’s been able to do that work from his office at the motel.
“It’s a good fit, because I can’t always be at events, but I can do other things behind the scenes that have to be done and that I have expertise in,” Fultz said.
During the work he did on the OHF logo, Fultz said what he learned during the meetings drew him in.
“Basically after I helped with the logo, I never left the group,” he said. “And I was happy to be there, because learning about what they were doing was awesome.”
Overall, Fultz said he and his wife love supporting organizations that help people who are struggling and are trying to turn their life around. And a big part of what people are looking for is help with medical and dental costs, which OHF provides, Fultz pointed out.
“They do something that’s definitely needed here,” he said.
Within that mission, Fultz noted that OHF’s support doesn’t stop with the grants to cover the main health need that’s on the application. If other needs arise along the way, the patient can be directed to supplemental help to meet those needs, whether it involves a further grant or other local resources.
“That’s really really important, and it’s what impresses me the most about what they do,” Fultz said of OHF.
He said joining OHF as a member is a wonderful way to help your community and impact people’s lives for the better.
“If you want to be part of an organization whose sole purpose is to help others – and that’s what they want to do, there’s no other agenda – you couldn’t pick a better group,” he said. “What you do really helps people directly.”