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5 THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT
Walt FitzPatrick
The director of Habitat for Humanity ReStore in Wayne
brings a world of experience to his job
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HOLIDAY 2018 WAYNE MAGAZINE
As an adult, he’s visited Hong
Kong, Vietnam, Thailand, Singapore,
Australia and New Zealand, in addi-
tion to closer countries and islands
like Canada, Mexico and a few places
in the Caribbean. Traveling through
Vietnam really gave him the sense
that he was on the other side of the
world, he says. He also went snorkel-
ing in Australia in the Great Barrier
Reef, despite his fear of sharks.
RESTORING HOPE Walt FitzPatrick, director of
Paterson Habitat for Humanity ReStore, brings
years of sales experience to his job.
done,” he says. In fact, FitzPatrick,
who is 50, has lived quite the
interesting life so far.
HE’S BEEN TRAVELING THE WORLD
SINCE HE WAS AN INFANT.
FitzPatrick, the son of a Naval
officer stationed in the Persian Gulf,
was born in Bahrain. He was about
6 months old when he moved with
his family to Connecticut. Before
they relocated to the states, he visited
Africa with his parents and his older
sister.
HE LIKES TO DESCRIBE HIMSELF AS
AN “INTERNATIONAL ACTOR.”
FitzPatrick went through an acting
phase in college and took a hand-
ful of acting classes. He likes to tell
his friends that he’s an international
professional actor because of his
participation in a theater produc-
tion in Vermont, which was held at
the Haskell Free Library and Opera
in Derby Line, located in both the
United States and Canada. “The
building straddles the Canadian and
American borders,” he says. “Stage
right is in Canada and stage left is in
Vermont. It’s like one of those goofy
non-stats that I love to tell all my
friends about.”
About two year ago, FitzPatrick
acted as an airline pilot for an
industry commercial that aired at
a convention for dentists. In the
commercial, he is flying a jet, and he
is able to get an emergency dental
appointment. “So, I ejected from the
jet and landed in the dentist’s office,”
he says. “It was pretty fun.”
>
S
ince joining the Paterson
Habitat for Humanity
ReStore in Wayne five
years ago, Walt FitzPatrick
has helped turn a money-
losing operation into a
winner. FitzPatrick, the director
of the nonprofit, located at 415
Hamburg Turnpike, describes it as
an “upscale Salvation Army.”
Last year, the location had a
million dollars in sales and raised
$300,000 to build six homes and
rehab four others in Paterson. Since
its inception 30 years ago, 269 homes
have been built. All profits from the
store further Habitat for Humanity’s
mission to end substandard housing
in Paterson.
Each ReStore is unique, FitzPatrick
explains, with its own product focus
and marketing techniques. The
Wayne store sells gently used and
new products, and they purchase
inventory, like rugs, bathmats,
paint, and painting supplies. It’s also
FitzPatrick’s job as director to solicit
new donations. The ReStore recently
accepted the donation of baby prod-
ucts, such as high chairs and toddler
beds, from a company that relocated
out of state.
FitzPatrick says that running a
ReStore is like running your own
business, and that affiliate owners fig-
ure out their local markets and adjust
their businesses to suit them. So, on
a personal level, FitzPatrick finds the
work quite satisfying. “It’s a culmina-
tion of kind of everything I’ve ever
WRITTEN BY JAI AGNISH