Pat Merrill
Assistant to the President

Pat Merrill has always wanted to be able to “make a difference” and knowing she is part of this elite group makes her feel she’ll able to do just that!

When she is not working full-time as an Assistant to the Manager of Customer Service for a forced-placed insurance company, she tries to find time for real love – volunteer work. She finds this extremely satisfying and has worked in the past as a literacy tutor, a hospice volunteer, and even started with a friend her own non-profit foundation. While working with a gentleman who had become totally incapacitated from a brain-stem stroke, she realized that as limited as he was (he could virtually only move one finger), there were ways he could (and did) operate a computer system. This not only gave him a “voice” but a small sense of independence he otherwise did not have. Unfortunately, about four years ago she had to give this up and has been looking for something else that she could ‘sink her teeth into’. “Watching Survivor or Deal or No Deal in the evening is just not enough for me,” she says. “I want to make a difference.”

Reading about online abuse and online predators (she is also an avid reader), gave her the idea to ask WHOA about being a safety advocate. It was determined that her administrative skills could better be utilized by working ‘behind the scenes’ helping as WHOA President Jayne’s assistant and doing what she loves the most – reading and research. She is extremely honored to be a member of a group with such impressive credentials.

On a personal note, she is the grandmother to two sets of twins and is happily married to a Substance Abuse Counselor. She also is a strong advocate for adoption of rescue animals, as the ‘love of her life’ is her rescue dog, Griffin. Due to chronic health issues, she tells everyone that he “rescued me, I didn’t rescue him”.