Walter T. Merrick House ~ Homeless Shelter
CYMG, UCCMA, 501 (C) 3 Walter T. Merrick House
is a shelter that will provide education, training, and 6 rooms for homeless and displaced persons.
Grants and Gifts provided by:
Additional financial support provided by YWCA Bradford, MerrickFoundation.Org, and EBay Giving Works.
The house was donated by RDJC, Inc. and the interior is in need of final rehab. To help facilitate that end,
CYMG has begun a fund raising effort to help complete and furnish the home. The home can provide up to 12
beds, 2 full baths, a shared kitchen and dinning room, common living room, and a fenced area in the back of the house.
Walter T. Merrick House will provide reduced and subsidized living expenses while the residence get needed training
and education for job placement and provide a safe transition environment during education and personal rehabilitation.
MISSION STATEMENT:
To provide innovative educational environment in-depth interaction that fosters new perspectives on achievement
technology for homeless and displaced persons with micro-business and self sustaining concepts to include
motivational seminars, spiritual encouragement, and project development at the individual and group level to institute
a core value interaction that aggressively overcomes attitudes and environmental effects of negative self image while
providing a safe home environment to transition to independent living and self sustaining income.
HISTORY:
Pastor Walter Truman Merrick
The house is named after Walter Truman Merrick who was a circuit riding minister during the turn of the century who attended
college in Pittsburgh and was ordained shortly thereafter. Walter established congregations all across Pennsylvania before moving
to the budding frontier in Arizona where he established the Buckeye Christian Church. Many of the Churches Walter and his
wife Edna Pearl Redfield Merrick established are still active congregations including one in Indiana , Wellsboro, and Pittsburgh.
During the great depression after the stock market crash of 1929, Walter road horse back to the brick yards in Pittsburgh
where homeless people during the time would gravitate to keep warm. He spent his entire fortune of some 5 million dollars
which he inherited from his grandfather before the stock market crash on helping others to survive this troubling time in
American history. One event that best depicts why this house is named after Walter is recounted in his wife's writings
that tells how once he came back home with no shirt, coat, or shoes from one of his trips to hand out quarters to help
feed the homeless. This was in the dead of winter and he traveled from Pittsburgh to home in the Bradford area on
horse back that way. Edna tells how God must of had his angels protecting him in that he never even got a cold.
Because he gave to others, God protected him. It is in that spirit that we have named this shelter after him.
INNOVATION
What's Different?
What makes Walter T Merrick house different is that we use techniques that are outside the box of the usual institutional
setting with programs for homeless. First we seek to infuse a multi-tolerant attitude toward the environmental
perspective and basic psyche of the individual to enhance new understandings about who they are and why they are here.
This is done by first exploring in seminar format the establishment of goals, self respect, openness, and interactive
approaches to the the natural world.
We seek to help the whole person from the start, change the foundations of pathways in life, and teach them how to
foresee and overcome negative results before they occur. To do this we have a 6 month program that involves
workshop training, small business and economics classes, and job skills.
The holistic approach
Walter T Merrick House is in Bradford Pennsylvania minutes away from the Allegany National Forest. Weekly
nature walks and preservation talks are conducted by staff to teach local job skills, forest environment
projects and program awareness, and spiritual renewal through natural solitude provided by the local parks and
forest programs. Health and natural nutrition programs are also provided to heighten physical health and awareness.
Spiritual Renewal
Walter T Merrick house provides a fostering of spiritual perspectives toward gratitude for the blessings found in
the environment, community involvement, and faith. Residents are encouraged to attend local community events and
faith based programs that help to build positive self image. 12 Step and other self-help perspectives are encouraged
and discussed in group settings.
Self Sustaining Skills
Residents are given weekly classes in business skills, internet business, home based business, and motivational
materials and projects that teach organization skills and success oriented attitudes. Books, Audio programs, and
group tasks are given to help foster leadership and motivation to inspire action to change or be changed by
positive involvement in community, employment, and small business start-ups. Self sustaining project development
is encouraged to facilitate successful transition into independent living that fosters prevention of the negative causes
that lead to homelessness.
Local Perspectives
Our abundant natural resources, parks, fresh water ways, and the local Seneca
Nation of Indians allows us to provide field trips to explore the historical roots of the area
and provide for the long term self actualization of the resident. Community involvement
is encouraged to foster a sense of belongingness and assimilation into
community volunteerism and participation in local organizations, foundations,
and events. Local arts programs, nature trails, University of Pittsburgh Bradford
and performing arts events help to enhance goals and community involvement
for residents.
Project Outcome & Success
Our fund raising effort is to help complete the work begun here to the exterior, furnish the facility, provide educational material
and a staff to oversee the operations of this home. The goal will be to give a fully rounded exposure to positive thinking,
employment education, entrepreneur skills, money management, wealth building techniques, mentor programs, and
spiritual encouragement from a non-denominational perspective. Many of the residence here we hope to help will come
out of shelters for abuse & treatment that are running out of space at the local YWCA program.
Merrick House will provide the needed transitional environment and help to lead to a productive
self esteem building environment and future success for it's residence. To facilitate these goals,
we hope to employ three part time staff and one full time social worker. Our goal is to place
residents into healthy living and working environments at completion of the program.
How You Can Help:
CYMG UCCMA is a 501 (C) (3) tax deductable charity and accepts endowments, grants, and contributions
to project specific areas under guidelines of the State of Pennsylvania and the IRS. You can get involved as
a volunteer in rehab work or by contributing in several ways.
Join our FACEBOOK Cause and help raise funds and awareness at:
http://www.causes.com/causes/518697
Contributions through RDJC, Inc. are collected through PayPal and forwarded to CYMG for distribution to the project.
Guidestar and Network for Good collect contributions and provides public transparent disclosure of the parent organizations
and project finances at http://www2.guidestar.org/ReportOrganization.aspx?ein=27-3465670
Points Of Light Foundation provides EBay Giving works auction contributions through Mission Fish
for sellers and buyers on EBay to contribute funds at the close of auctions and contribute a portion of the sale
to CYMG.
Grant Makers may contact Pastor Daniel W. Merrick, Ph.D. for grant application or corporate gifts
by email at faith@penn.com
Project Synopsis for Grant Makers
Walter T Merrick house will provide shelter and training as a pilot project to incorporate holistic and motivational training
techniques to help displaced and homeless persons to become productive members of the community through training
with a unique and naturalistic approach. The center will be designed to create an environment of the community and
nature as an extended family.
The team work approach and community awareness aspects of the project will help to foster a retreat like experience for
the resident to inspire greatness in achievement technology by using mentors, training materials, and project tasks that
will create a behavioral change where the individual will become self actualized into a enhanced feeling of self worth as
a part of the world around them. Living skills and job creation shall take on a new perspective in small and micro
home-based business approach to generating income in environmentally friendly ways.
Self sustaining approach to seminars and workshops are designed to teach basic how to skills in generating income
and marketable products and services in green technology, self esteem building projects, and fostering feelings of
belonging to the community and nature as a whole.
Goal setting training and reading materials for subject matter enhance and foster positive attitude and relationships with
the community of the world at large.
The project term will seek to provide a multi-dimensional spiritual approach that allows self discovery and appreciation
for the natural and intellectual resources in the world community.
Initial launch of the project shall be in Bradford PA in a donated house presently under rehab to facilitate the shelter.
Success will be measured in stages for the clients to reach achievable goals resulting in self-sustaining income and
living. Upon completion clients will continue with updates and meetings with a social worker in the project to insure
ongoing application of learned skills. Upon completion clients will move into their own apartment or home resuming
independent living.
Dr. Merrick will administrate the program and write the curriculum for client/residents training and development. Dr.
Merrick is the Pastor of CYMG and a retired US Army Captain. Dr. Merrick has worked as the president of RDJ Catalog,
Inc, after developing training programs for fortune 500 companies in marketing and motivational skills. Dr. Merrick has
worked with the CYS in the state of Kentucky working with adjudicated youth and has worked with local shelter programs
as a volunteer raising funds and providing for the needs of the YWCA safe space center. Dr. Merrick was on welfare and
went to millionaire as documented in his book "Instructions To Money; From Welfare To Millionaire".
The projects long term goals is to duplicate this process and approach to other shelters world wide adopting a Mispoka
(family) Community approach in a Kibbutz style living and training setting that will inspire greatness and environmental
self actualized feelings of gratitude and friendship with nature and humanity.
Upon completion clients will complete an evaluation and review of their economic and living conditions to rate program
success. Download our flyer for more information on CYMG donations and programs. Click Here For Flyer
