Working at nonprofits can be thankless despite their importance. That’s why it’s essential to have advocates. Berks County is lucky to have this quartet, passionately championing cat adoption, food pantries, community improvements and relief from debilitating tremors.
Photos By Heidi Reuter
Karen Williams
EXETER AREA FOOD PANTRY FOUNDER
A longtime first grade and kindergarten teacher in the Exeter School District, Exeter Township resident Karen Williams knew the percentage of students receiving free and reduced-price lunches was significant. When she and her husband contacted local food banks and learned that the 19606 ZIP code was the most underserved in the county, they decided to act.
Multiple churches offered money to start a food pantry while Reformation Lutheran Church offered space in its community hall. With food provided by Helping Harvest, the Exeter Area Food Pantry launched in 2011, serving 10 families.
As the need grew, the food pantry outgrew its space. And then COVID hit.
The parking lot of the former Giant Food Store in the Exeter Promenade shopping center was a temporary fix. Then Williams received a major assist from her former employer.
“The superintendent contacted me and said: ‘I hear you have a food pantry. We'd like to help you out,’” she recalls.
Converting its former Lausch Elementary into an administration building, the school wanted to offer space for community use. Initially dispersing food outside the building during the pandemic, the food pantry moved inside to the gymnasium in October 2021, utilizing the kitchen for storage. It’s been there ever since.
Its food distributions, available for those in the 19508 and 19606 ZIP codes, occur on the third Friday of each month from 1 to 5:30 p.m.
“We are a client-choice pantry,” Williams says.
“We don't pre-box or pre-bag food. A volunteer with a grocery cart goes around with the clients. We felt it was important to give them choice and to give them dignity. It’s like they’re going to the grocery store. It's important that we treat these people with respect. They could be our neighbors. Most of them are.”
Initially serving 10 families, the food pantry now serves more than 300, with about 20 new clients walking through the doors each month.
Though Helping Harvest still provides most of the food, nonperishable food donations are greatly needed and appreciated. Donation barrels are in the Exeter Township municipal building, the Breakfast Hut along Perkiomen Avenue and the Exeter Community Library. Those wanting to make a monetary donation should send a check to Reformation Lutheran Church with a notation signaling the funds should be given to the pantry.
Williams is heartened when things come full circle with clients.
“We have families that have gotten back on their feet and made monetary donations to our food bank,” she says. “Sometimes they volunteer while they're still getting food because they feel that’s their way of paying it forward.”
Williams also volunteers twice a week with stroke patients at Reading Hospital. Shortly after she retired, an aneurysm burst in her brain. During her three-week stay at the hospital, she got to know many people, so when her care navigator contacted her and mentioned a new program that would allow volunteers to visit stroke patients, she jumped at the opportunity.
While she appreciates the space in the administration building, Williams would love to see the food pantry find a permanent space that would eliminate the monthly setups and tear-downs.
“That would be great because we could take the donations as they come in and shelve them,” she says. “We could still do the shopping experience, but we wouldn’t have to set up and tear down all in two days.”
Learn more: Facebook: ExeterAreaFoodPantry
Photos By Heidi Reuter
Larry O’Boyle
ANTIETAM VALLEY COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIP PRESIDENT
Antietam Valley Community Partnership’s unofficial motto is "Many neighborhoods, one community.”
Larry O’Boyle, the organization’s president, says it describes the distinct diversity of the region.
“Our community touches the City of Reading, the mountains, the farms of Oley and the suburbs of Exeter,” says O’Boyle, a group member since its beginnings and a resident of Lower Alsace Township. “We are a diverse community in a variety of ways — economic, educational, political and religious — yet we coexist and work together when we really need to. I like making small talk with my neighbors. I like saying hello to people at Redner's and them returning the greeting. I like knowing 100 people, if not by name, at least by face.”
Founded in 2011 by members of Revive Antietam, the Antietam Valley Community Partnership (AVCP) aimed to improve the quality of life in the region, which includes the boroughs of Mount Penn and St. Lawrence, Lower Alsace Township and the surrounding area.
It started by sponsoring free events like the holiday tree lighting at Carsonia Park, concerts in the park and movie nights at the A-Field. Its offerings grew to include:
• A community dinner at Antietam High School featuring Polish food that funds scholarships available to seniors in the region.
• A community dinner featuring Spanish food that funds its holiday food distribution.
• The Carsonia Craft Beer & Wine Amusement at Reading Liederkranz, which helps to fund other free events.
• The Antietam Valley Farmers and Artists Market at Carsonia Park.
• A collaboration with the Antietam School District creating a summer S.T.E.A.M. program.
It has evolved from offering “fun stuff” to meeting the community’s needs, according to O’Boyle, a facility maintenance worker at the ACME Distribution Center in Denver, PA, who served on the Antietam School Board for 14 years.
“Because of our community support, we are now able to help families in need,” he says. “The flood of 2023 has been our most recent, and biggest, challenge. It is an ongoing work of caring for those who need our help the most.”
AVCP also supports charitable causes, making financial contributions to the Mount Penn Area Business Association; Antietam School District musicals; and area fire departments, police departments and ambulance associations.
Of the 21 seats on the AVCP board, 12 are filled by community members. The remaining seats are filled by representatives from municipalities in the area, Antietam School District, Spencer Thornburg from State Sen. Judy Schwank's office and Chad Schlanger from State Rep. Jacklyn Rusnock's office. In addition, about 20 community members help at events.
Cooperation between organizations has allowed the nonprofit to achieve much more than it could have on its own. The movie nights are a joint effort by AVCP and the Antietam School District; Trunk-or-Treat is a collaboration between AVCP, the Antietam Pool and Mount Penn and Lower Alsace fire departments; and the tree lighting is a cooperative event between AVCP, the Antietam Pool, the school district and the fire departments.
O’Boyle has no plans to exit the organization in the near future, but his goal is to maintain its viability so he can pass it off.
“My hope for the future,” he says, “is that AVCP will continue long after I am no longer involved.”
Learn more: antietamvalley.org
Photos By Heidi Reuter
Bobby Krause
FOUNDER & PRESIDENT OF THE BE STILL FOUNDATION
Mohnton resident Bobby Krause will always remember June 9, 2022. It was the first day in six years he did nothing.
The first four decades of his life were filled with physical activity: He played basketball at Alvernia University, coached his sons in youth sports leagues, traveled with his wife and ran a sales office in Wyomissing for a fitness equipment company.
But all that changed when he started experiencing what he thought was a nervous tick in his left arm.
“Never did it cross my mind that it was young onset Parkinson's disease, which was the diagnosis that I officially received at the age of 42,” says Krause, 51.
The six years following the diagnosis found Krause becoming introverted, battling depression, anxiety and embarrassment. However, his neurologist at the University of Pennsylvania was involved with clinical trials for Focused Ultrasound, a procedure that uses sound waves to treat tissue in the body. Krause was scheduled for the treatment after it was approved by the FDA.
“Driving down to Philadelphia that morning was a quiet ride full of angst and anxiety, wondering if the procedure would achieve the results that I had so hoped for, wondering how it would feel while I'm in the MRI machine having ablation (tissue removal) done to my brain,” he recalls.
During the procedure, the patient’s brain is warmed up at the location identified through the MRI. This was done five times to make sure the area responsible for triggering his tremors was identified. In between each session, Krause performed various tests with the medical team to determine the level of improvement.
“Being awake and seeing those physical manifestations occur was surreal,” he says. “I had such bad dystonia in my left foot that my toes curled underneath my feet, and on the second pass I could see and feel my toes unfurl in real time. On the fourth pass, the debilitating tremors that I had for almost 10 years dissipated, and I finally became still. I cried uncontrollably knowing that my tremors were gone and I was going to be able to return to some level of normalcy.”
It took a few weeks for side effects such as imbalance to clear up, but the tremor relief was immediate.
“I could hold a cup of water without spilling, button a shirt, hold my wife’s hand,” he says. “But most importantly, I regained confidence in being around others. I wasn't broken anymore.”
Krause founded Be Still in May 2024 after learning that lack of awareness and financial limitations prevented most of the millions of Americans suffering from essential tremors and Parkinson’s disease from receiving Focused Ultrasound. According to Krause, 97 percent of tremor patients who would qualify for the procedure are not aware of it or are not participating due to the cost.
Be Still’s goals include paying for the procedure for those without insurance coverage; covering deductibles and travel accommodations; and giving hope by boosting awareness, visibility and education. The nonprofit aims to aid more than 50 recipients in 2025.
To raise awareness, Krause offers inperson and virtual presentations locally and nationally at places like Princeton University and Capitol Hill. And he’s getting assistance with his advocacy. The nonprofit created Team Triumph, an advocacy network that allows potential candidates of Focused Ultrasound to ask questions from peers who had the procedure.
“Because of the high success rate and lifechanging results,” he says, “many members simply want to share with everyone and anyone who will listen.”
Learn more: bestill.foundation
Photos By Heidi Reuter
Sherry Flamm
VOLUNTEER WITH CUDDLES ADOPTABLES
Cats have always been a big part of Sherry Flamm’s life.
“My cats have helped me through some really hard times in my life,” the Exeter Township resident says. “They're great companions. Just to hear them purr and to know that they're happy, that makes my heart happy because I'm giving them a good life. And in return, if I'm having a bad day, hearing them purr helps me feel better.”
Looking for a volunteer opportunity, she made a beeline for felines.
Today, she advocates for cats at Cuddles Adoptables, a cat rescue based out of Perfect Match Pet Shop in Exeter Township. Flamm previously volunteered for about 15 years at the CatWorks, where she met Michelle Karkoska. The pair then took a brief break from volunteering before Karkoska alerted Flamm to the new rescue, where they reunited.
Founded in 2022, Cuddles is already having a significant impact. From March through December of last year alone, the rescue found homes for 220 cats, according to Karkoska.
In the front of Perfect Match Pet Shop is the Cat Café, featuring the organization’s adoptable cats. Kennels in the back of the store house cats that have yet to be spayed or neutered or that need shots.
On the weekends, Karkosa spends hours at Perfect Match scooping litter pans, providing food and water and doing laundry. During the week, she’ll stop down a few times to take pictures or do live videos for the group’s Facebook page.
Cuddles’ adoption days occur once a month.
“We'll pick a Saturday that works for everybody and do an adoption day where it's free admission to get in and meet the cats and see if one picks you,” she says. “We always say the cats pick their owners. People will come in and have interest in one cat, but then they’ll meet another cat and that one picks them. And I help provide information and just help with whatever needs to be done.”
Flamm says there usually are about a dozen cats in the Cat Café, with up to 50 in the back.
Most of its felines come from a variety of local and even global organizations thanks to the contacts Karkosa built up during her decades-long involvement with rescues. But they also handle strays and cats surrendered by their owners.
Along with taking care of her own three cats, Flamm often fosters Cuddles Adoptables cats at her home.
“I cry when they leave, but I get to love on them while I have them,” she says. “So, it's all good.”
Despite the considerable time Flamm devotes to volunteering with Cuddles inside and outside of her home, she wishes she could do more.
“If I didn't have to work a full-time job, just doing the rescue would be amazing, helping more cats find homes,” she says. “Unfortunately, I just had to buy a new car. But the volunteering is my fun. It makes my heart happy.”
Learn more: cuddlesrescue.org
