Annual Meeting 2025, “A Night at the Theater” Recap

On Wednesday, November 19^th 2025, the Berks community gathered at WCR Center for the Arts in Reading, PA, for Berks County Community Foundation’s annual meeting, “A Night at the Theater”.

Foundation President Kevin Murphy gave opening remarks and shared a broad overview of the foundation’s work during the previous fiscal year.

Murphy shared that the foundation distributed $6.8 Million in grants and scholarships from nearly 400 different funds. Last year was historic for the foundation, having ended June with over $154 Million in assets under management—a new record.

“But the assets we manage only represent our potential for making progress,” said Kevin Murphy. “What we do with those assets is what really matters.” Building community partnerships and supporting our local nonprofits are what really matters, now more than ever.

Keynote speaker Kim Sheffer, Lifelong Learning Program Officer at the foundation, expanded on the topic of community engagement and collaboration. Over the past year, Kim convened with local businesses, higher education institutions, and nonprofits to develop a strategic plan for retaining more Berks County college and university graduates.

Kim brought Generation Impact, a program of VOiCEup Berks focused on engaging, connecting, and retaining 18–24-year-olds in Berks County, into the conversation. The foundation is proud to announce that we are supporting Generation Impact’s pilot program, which will hire campus ambassadors, manage annual signature events, and provide networking opportunities for students and employers.

“If our collective goal is to make it compelling for college students and young professionals to say “yes” to Berks,” said Kim Sheffer, “we must work together to make it a vibrant and livable place.”

Kim Sheffer, Lifelong Learning Program Officer, delivers the interactive keynote speech. Photos by Jeremy Drey.

Contributing to our community vibrancy are Tim Shew and Jane Brockman, the guest performers for the annual meeting. Credited with decades of lead roles in Broadway productions, Tim and Jane are experts in their respective fields.

They are also the perfect people to host and direct local musical theater workshops—which they are currently doing at Alvernia University. In the spirit of collaboration, these workshops—and the community musical theatre production they will stage in the Spring of 2026—are open for any Berks County college/university student to attend. Independent community actors are also welcome to join.

“Tim and Jane’s performance left me speechless,” said Monica Reyes, Vice President for Programs and Initiatives and M.C. for the event. “They’re bringing Broadway to Berks County, and we could not be more grateful.”

From right to left, the above photos feature: Musical theater workshop participant and producer of the upcoming community musical theater production performs “Beautiful City” from the musical Godspell; Musical theater workshop participant and current Alvernia University student performs “Diva’s Lament (Whatever Happened to My Part?)” from the musical Spamalot; Musical theater workshop participant performs “On the Steps of the Palace” from the musical Into the Woods. Photos by Jeremy Drey

Are you interested in attending our next annual meeting? Send Jen Heydt, Communication Manager, an email expressing your interest.

We hope to see you in the community soon!

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Photos by Jeremy Drey