Last Thursday (October 4, 2018), Merris Welge from North Central Ohio SCORE received the Community Educator Hero Award at the Red Cross Hero Awards. The award was well deserved—let us tell you why!
Merris Welge is a true “Community Educator Hero”. Incredibly, he has been volunteering his time educating the community through the North Central Ohio SCORE organization for 22 years! SCORE is a mentoring organization, providing free counseling, resources and advice to people who are in business or want to start a business. Merris currently serves in a office manager capacity for SCORE, provides counseling, and helps plan workshops. Rarely a day goes by that Merris isn’t spending time in the SCORE office – he commits anywhere from 10-12 hours volunteering each week! Merris has also served as the Chapter Chair for SCORE for three separate years and served as Vice Chair twice. In August 2015, Merris received the Distinguished Service Award in recognition of his “outstanding service, unwavering commitment and exceptional contributions to North Central Ohio SCORE chapter 384”. This award also earned him commendations from many government officials such as Governor John Kasich and Lietenant Governor Mary Taylor, House Representative Mark Romanchuk, and the Ohio Senate. The North Central Ohio Chapter also received the Chapter of the Year award in 1999 while Merris was serving as Chapter Chair. It would be fascinating to know how many businesses Merris has helped grow and succeed – hundreds for certain.
In addition to SCORE, Merris also volunteers several hours each week for other organizations. Merris has served on the Board of Richland Newhope Industries for the past 10 years (currently secretary/treasurer) and served on the board of the Third Street Clinic for 12 years. Merris also volunteers his time to benefit the Richland Area Chamber of Commerce. He serves on Chamber committees such as the Expo Committee, Ambassador Committee, and Small Business of the Year Committee. Merris also regularly brightens the day of the staff inside the Chamber building with his ready smile, caring nature, helping hand, great ideas, positive outlook, and by remembering and giving out everyone’s favorite flavor of chocolate (his favorite guilty pleasure).
Merris has also been involved with Sertoma for the past 32 years (25 years as the treasurer), earning him the distinction of Life Member. Sertoma’s mission and passion is to improve the quality of life for those at risk or impacted by hearing loss through education and support. Through Sertoma, Merris helps arrange and facilitate two field trips a year with local hearing-impaired children, such as trips to COSI, the Columbus Zoo, The Wilds, and the 179th Airlift Wing. You may have seen Merris bartending at many events, but what you may not know is the proceeds from the bar are often donated to Sertoma to carry out their mission. Merris recently received a recognition award from Sertoma to honor his years of service, serving since 1986.
Background Information
Merris started working as a bookkeeper at the Second National Bank of Bucyrus after graduation from Tiffin University and worked his way up in the company. He then became Branch Manager of First National Bank of Mansfield and was soon promoted to Manager of Installment Loans. In his years of employment there, Merris worked in every department except Trust and IT. He saw the company go through eight name changes, and it was officially KeyBank when he retired as Assistant Vice President.
During his banking career, Merris served as President of the North Central Ohio National Association of Credit Managers (NACM) and President of Bank Administration Institute (BAI).
Merris and his wife Jean have worked together to support local law enforcement. They established two designated funds, one for the Ontario Police Department and one for the Mansfield Police Department. The first project to receive support from the Ontario Police Department fund was a memorial to law enforcement in front of Ontario City Hall. The second fund was established to fund projects at the Mansfield Police Department.
Merris and Jean have also set up Charitable Gift Annuities (CGAs) at the Richland County Foundation, the Salvation Army, and the Sertoma Club and encourage others to consider doing so. Merris and Jean like the investment because it can help a nonprofit organization and provide an income stream to the individual, in addition to a tax deduction and a higher interest rate than a traditional savings account or certificate of deposit.
Merris and Jean have been married 48 years and reside in Ontario. They have four adult children residing in Ohio and have many special memories of traveling the country.
As you can see, Merris is a true pillar and hero of this community. We are so blessed to have him!