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Today we heard from Karen Herrera, Development and Communications Director for Merrick, Inc. This organization was established in 1964 with a goal of serving young adults with developmental disabilities. At the time, these folks lived at home and could not secure adequate services from the public schools. Today Merrick offers a variety of work options, life enrichment activities and therapeutic programs to more than 375 adults with intellectual and/or developmental disabilities. They operate out of a 52,000 sq. ft. facility in Vadnais Heights, with a second site in North St. Paul. The building in Vadnais Heights has been renovated to be very environmentally friendly. (Energy consumption has been reduced by 50% since making these improvements). The building is used to employ clients to provide a number of services to businesses, including packaging, assembly, document destruction, recycling, clerical services and digital imaging. Some clients opt to work outside the facility in supervised settings at places such as Culvers restaurants and Kowalski groceries. Merrick calculates that the federal funding they receive provides a return on investment of over 3:1 in terms of benefit to the community. They also rely on individual and corporate donations of time and money. More information on volunteer opportunities and other topics can be found at www.merrickinc.org.