Judy and Paul Putzel have generously supported health care for 35 consecutive years. Beginning in 1991 with gifts to the former Jewish Hospital and continuing today with gifts through The Foundation for Barnes-Jewish Hospital, the Putzels have supported a wide variety of health care needs, from cancer research to hospice care and more.
They are especially committed to sustaining nursing scholarships through the Helen R. and Henry V. Putzel Nursing Scholarship Fund at the Foundation, which Paul’s parents and family established in honor of his grandparents. The fund has supported 20 nursing students at Barnes-Jewish College Goldfarb School of Nursing since it was created in 2008, and it will continue to help educate the next generation of caregivers, thanks to the Putzel family’s continued generosity. Paul and Judy share their reasons for giving below.
Paul Putzel
My parents and grandparents on both sides always gave through the former Jewish Hospital. My mother and father set up the Helen R. and Henry V. Putzel Nursing Scholarship Fund in honor of my grandparents, and Judy and I have continued to support it. My cousin, Joanie Buckley, and her husband, Mike, have been significant supporters of the fund as well. We want to keep it alive in my grandparents’ memory and because we like the mission of Barnes-Jewish College Goldfarb School of Nursing. We need nurses, and many people need financial support to get through school—we like to give where we’ll have an impact.
Judy Putzel
Many of the thank you notes we receive from scholarship students concentrate on the fact that they wouldn’t have been able to get a nursing education without a scholarship. It’s nice to see someone who is willing and capable become a nurse even if they couldn’t afford it.
It’s important to us to give when we are able, and it’s equally important that we are honoring Paul’s parents and grandparents by doing so. They’re all deceased now, but I know they would be thrilled to know that they’re still providing scholarships for nursing students. Since health care is a major concern to all of us, it’s important to continue the legacy. I can’t think of much else that’s more important than health care. If you can afford to give, it’s really important to provide help where it’s needed. That’s really where we come from—to help and to honor family.