We kick off our 2024 Volunteer Spotlights with Jessi Jo Boulter. Jessi Jo has served on the Grant Committee for two years. The OCF Grant Committee is comprised of nine members who award grants to local nonprofits. Once a year, Grant Committee members, along with Community Grant Program funding partners, review nonprofit grant applications, hear their presentations, and award grants that help strengthen Otsego County. We appreciate the dedication of Jessi Jo and her fellow committee members to making Otsego County a more vibrant place to live.
It’s no surprise that Jessi Jo would want to give back to the place she has called home for her whole life. According to her, “Otsego County and Elmira are a part of who I am.”
Jessi Jo and her husband Dan have three children—Beau, Westyn, and Jorja. Beau and Westyn play football, basketball, and baseball for both recreational and travel leagues. Jorja plays basketball and travels to Quarter Horse shows in Michigan and Ohio. Dan is the varsity lineman Coach at Gaylord High (Forks up!), and he coaches basketball and baseball at the youth and middle school levels. Jessi Jo is usually busy preparing young horses to start their show careers, hauling Jorja to horse shows, or cheering in the stands for the boys.
Learn more about Jessi Jo in her own words:
What do you love about Otsego County?
Otsego County = Support. I love that here in Otsego County you can find support when it is needed, how it is needed. We have so many opportunities here to help one another and to be helped in our time of need.
What is your hope for Otsego County?
I hope that more people can become aware of all that Otsego County has to offer. I have been here my whole life, and joining the Grant Committee has shown me even more of what we have available in Otsego County, more than I ever knew existed. Our community is so full of good and goes unseen by so many.
What has it been like for you serving on the Grant Committee? What would you like the community to know about the OCF based on your experience?
Serving on the Grant Committee has been humbling, eye-opening, fulfilling, and so rewarding. The OCF allows the people of Otsego County to take care of one another. The OCF and its committees do their due diligence and make sure that the donor funds hold more value than if it were one person alone trying to make a difference. The OCF proves that together with the right people in the right roles, we can do so much more than as individuals. Being a small part of this foundation that does an enormous amount of good is such a wonderful opportunity that I will forever be grateful for.