About Mattern House
Our Mission
At Mattern House, we are dedicated to empowering the people we serve to achieve lifelong success by encouraging positive control over the life they desire, helping them to be recognized and valued for their contributions within the community and by providing opportunities to grow, change, and develop a greater independence while experiencing life with a greater self-respect, self-reliance, and self-esteem.
Our Vision
By providing excellent health and safety care, loving and caring homes, and highly trained professionals, Mattern House will strive to be the leading provider of Community Residential Services through our many years of experience and our tradition of family values.
Our History
Mattern House, Inc. has been providing residential services to people with intellectual disabilities since 1982. But caring for people with intellectual disabilities started before then. Theresa and David Mattern started fostering children in their home in Williamsburg, Pennsylvania in 1978. They fostered four children from the state institution in Cresson, Pennsylvania and two from the community. They took children and adults from other counties and provided emergency respite for people who needed temporary care. They had a real love for the children that they fostered and they were included in everything that Theresa and David did with their own three children. A young boy named Buddy came to live with them. He came right in and called them Mommy and Daddy and they fell in love with him! Despite his challenges, he had a beautiful warm smile and was kind and loving. He fit in perfectly with their family and would help out with their twin baby boys. When it was time for Buddy to be transferred to another foster home, Theresa and David knew that they had to adopt him. They adopted Buddy in 1979. He had such an impact on their lives that they decided that they wanted to provide homes for other people who needed residential care. With a lot of work, determination, and prayer, their dream became a reality.
In 1982 their home was licensed for residential care and Mattern House, Inc. was established as a non-profit organization. Eventually, Mattern House was recognized as an agency and they started to receive funding. At this point, Theresa and David felt it was time to separate their personal life from the business. They started hiring staff in 1993 and they bought property in Hollidaysburg, PA with 14 acres and built a home with wheelchair access ramps for the people they cared for who were in wheelchairs. Theresa and David’s daughter, Tammy started working for the business and became the staff person at the Williamsburg home and Theresa was the staff person at the Hollidaysburg home. Outside referrals started to come in for more residential services and there was a need for more homes to be purchased and to employ more staff. Today, Mattern House has 2 offices with Administrative Staff and 11 residential homes with 50+ Direct Support Professionals in Blair County. These homes are licensed and follow the 6100 and 6400 regulations that are mandated by the state of Pennsylvania. Our staff are trained to provide medical and personal care to the people we support. They help people manage their financial needs, provide transportation wherever they may need to go, and help people participate in activities in the community. We encourage the people who live here to have an everyday life. At Mattern House, we are more than a residential provider. We are family caring for family!