About Merrick, Inc.  

Lake Area Bank, has been serving the financial needs of our "neighbors" since 1915.

Lake Area Bank is a progressive community bank, dedicated to providing  a wide range of products and services to meet your changing financial needs. They strive to provide the highest standard of personal service and convenience for you. All locations feature full service hours to accommodate your busy schedule. Please support our business partners with your spending dollars.

Help us continue to find meaningful work for the clients of Merrick by suggesting business partners who might be interested in hiring a client or a work crew. Send referrals to Executive Director John Wayne Barker at: JWB@merrickinc.org

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About Merrick, Inc.  

 

Greetings!

A new year gives us all the opportunity for a "fresh start". Whether it is the chance to begin a new project or take on an existing task with a renewed sense of optimism, a fresh start at the turning of the calendar year enables us to start with a clean slate. As Jim Chicone, Merrick's Training & Technical Assistance Director related in his weekly Thoughts on Thursday column on Facebook, "2013 will present opportunities and challenges in our personal and professional lives, some big-others small, but in all cases we have the opportunity to choose how we will respond." 

Angela, a client at Merrick, choosing to work with a smile!

Last summer, a representative at Fairview Health Services, where Merrick supplies a recycling crew for the Riverside location, reached out to John Crea, Work Procurement & Contract Manager, about a potential partnership to assemble their new "green" coolers. John jumped at the idea which supports our core beliefs of both civic responsibility and economic fairness and enlisted the Production team to investigate. In December of 2012, the idea came to fruition as six clients from Utility Services began assembling the coolers for Fairview Pharmacy Services, a business unit of Fairview Health Services. 

Fairview Cooler Crew

The new "green" coolers are made from Green Cell Foam™, a non-toxic renewable cornstarch material that is easily compostable or recyclable and used to ship temperature-sensitive medication to customers. StarchTech Inc., an eco-friendly packaging company based in Golden Valley supplies the product. Currently, the Merrick crew working on this project is engaged daily to build up the supply of coolers for Fairview. John estimates the project will be ongoing providing the crew with a few days of work each week. 

 

By using the new coolers, Fairview estimates it will keep 44,000 polystyrene, more commonly known as Stryrofoam™, coolers from reaching landfills in 2013 and hopes to demonstrate environmentally friendly ways to ship temperature-sensitive materials to other organizations.

 

Merrick is proud to be part of the effort by Fairview. Fox9 News covered the new coolers in a story released in January. You can view the story online at this link: http://bit.ly/WxFlOL and read Merrick's press release here: http://bit.ly/XiYzrg ❖

 

 

How many people do you know that come to work each and every day with a broad smile on their face? Well, John E. is one of those people. John is a delightful, social, kind-hearted, loyal, spiritual, self-assured, and fun person. When asked,  "If there was one word to describe what motivates him?" he stated, "it is being a "people person".  I am my own man."  John knows what make him feel comfortable, what he likes and does not like, who is sincere and who is not. He loves to be in social situations where he can be either the center of attention or an active observer in conversations. John is noted to be quite the storyteller, too. He is animated, with lots of sound effects, and uses humor with his own unique embellishments!

John with his mom Pat at the 2011 Client Holiday Party

John, who is 49 years old, has been working at Merrick, for 28 years. Currently he works in Utility Service completing contracts such as pull tabs or for Medtox. In addition to working, John participates in other activities offered at Merrick. He looks forward to and attends the Client Holiday party each year spending much of his time "busting-a-move" on the dance floor. He enjoys the Martin Luther King Day activities Merrick provides each year and is proud of his African-American heritage. He is also very involved in the Voter Rights campaign through Merrick's weekly Self-Advocacy groups. In addition to these activities, John has recently begun using Assistive Technology by learning how to use the computer and iPad. 

 

John grew up with a family of doctors---his dad, and his brothers, Steven and Michael, all practice medicine along with his sister Sarah who lives in Iowa. John also has a brother, Rodney, Jr., who is a financial executive. John's parents and siblings are his biggest advocates. Family is the most important thing to John in the whole wide world. John continues to live with his parents. He enjoys the independence of having his own level in his parents home; a walkout basement all to himself. John enjoys babysitting his nieces and nephews, participating in church activities, going to meetings, spending time with family on vacations, eating his parent's homemade cooking, enjoying his independence at home, holidays, visiting with neighbors from his current and old neighborhoods, and going to parties. He really embodies the phrase 'Man about town'.  

Get to know more clients at Merrick with the client spotlight stories on our website: http://bit.ly/clientspotlight ❖