Dorothy here, again!
Patti Fuller is spunky and quite the fashionista. She has been working at The Children’s Campus for 20 years!
I wondered why she stayed here all those long years and she replied, “I love it; I love the people. There is a strong commitment with all the people I work with. We really stand behind our work. I love it so much, and when you do what you really love to do, it’s not really work anymore.”
I asked her why she chose to work at The Children’s Campus in the first place, “I had worked at The Safe Station and I had heard a little bit about it. I knew that I really wanted to work with kids.”
I asked her what she thought was the biggest challenge facing her work, she replied, “Really to expect the unexpected. Even the best laid plans may not work out; there is always something that comes up and you have to tweak your plans a little bit.”
Next I asked Ms. Fuller if there was ever a time when she just wanted to lay all her stuff down and quit she replied, “It is not in my nature to quit; I am not a quitter.”
I asked her what the most rewarding part of working here is she replied, “Seeing the positive outcome, whether it is seeing a kid go home happy or seeing a project we coordinated go through. Seeing the kids have fun at the events we plan for them.”
I asked her if she had any kids she said, “One step-son who is 32.” I asked her what she brings from her parenting style to the kids here she replied, “When I met my step-son he was already grown up and didn’t really need to be parented; but I have nieces, and the most important thing is recognizing that you need to let kids be kids, and really learning to be non-judgmental.”
I asked Ms. Fuller what her favorite memory is from working here and she replied, “The Halloween dance and the trick-or-treating.”(For Halloween all the residents pick out costumes and trick or treat through the Campus Administration Building. All the people who work on Campus pass out candy, some of them even dress up it’s really fun. The residents also get their picture taken as they pass through. Later, after dinner, the residents come to the gym: music is played and games are played and there is a costume contest it is really great!)
I asked her what her funniest memory from working here is she said, “One of the residents was in a safe room throwing ketchup and mustard. Mr. Hesh put a trash bag on over his clothes and tried to dodge the ketchup and mustard streams! Another time there was this one staff that was so accident prone: he would toss Doritos in the air and try to catch them in his mouth, but he wasn’t paying attention and he bit his finger. It was pretty funny!”
I asked her if there was ever a time that residents ever did something so sweet that it made you wants to cry, she replied, “The kids decorated my office and decorated cards; it was really nice.”
Patti Fuller has been an asset to The Children’s Campus for 20 years and hopefully many more to come.
Note: The above interview was performed by a 17 year old resident of The Children’s Campus.The program descriptions are solely her interpretation of services.To learn more about specific programs or treatments, please contact our Admissions Office at 1-888-8-CAMPUS x288 or TCCAdmissions@childrenscampus.org.