Providing opportunities for nonprofit organizations to thrive is a big part of what we do at Berks County Community Foundation. One great example is the Nonprofit Management Certificate Program that the Foundation hosts in partnership with The Nonprofit Center at LaSalle University. This fall, join the Community Foundation and instructors from The Nonprofit Center at LaSalle University for a ten-month professional development opportunity designed exclusively for Berks County’s nonprofit executive directors and high-potential staff members who are serving in full-time, paid positions. 

The program includes: 

This will be the third cohort of nonprofit executives to experience this program, which runs every other year. 

Molly McCullough Robbins, Berks County Community Foundation’s Vice President for Philanthropic Services, was a member of the 2020 cohort while serving as Executive Director of Wyomissing Area Education Foundation. “Participating in this cohort was incredibly beneficial for me as a nonprofit leader. Not only did I learn valuable skills and best practices for the field, but I made connections with other nonprofit professionals in our community that I value to this day,” Molly said.   

Applicants must be employed by a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization in Berks County, Pennsylvania. The cohort is limited to 20 participants.  

To receive the certificate at the end of the program, attendance of all nine classes is required.  

Applications are open now, and the deadline to apply is July 22, 2024. Decisions will be made by August 9, 2024. The cost of the program is $500; scholarships or grants toward the cost are not available. Payments are due by August 30, 2024. Please click here for the full schedule

*Note that Berks County Community Foundation is not an accredited educational institution, but rather a nonprofit that seeks to bring professional development opportunities to the community for local leaders. 

Here is a summary of the curriculum for this professional development opportunity: Unless otherwise noted, these sessions will be in-person and 6 hours in length (9am-4pm). 

Building the Board Your Organization Needs (bring a board member session) 

If a board can make or break a nonprofit, what makes or breaks a nonprofit board? There are countless tales of triumph and terror on the topic of nonprofit boards and board members. With surprisingly few legal guidelines to follow, boards can look, feel, and function very differently from one another, even when they have the same assumed purpose. This class aims to explore what your nonprofit board’s role must be, what your board’s goals could be, and what it means for board members to be effective, both collectively and individually. Whether you are a long serving, aspiring, new, or simply curious board member, this course will give you a contextual view of nonprofit boards, governance, and a fresh look through an equity lens at the balance of power between boards, executive leadership, and the people and communities they impact. 

Communication to Build Relationships, Engagement & Understanding 

Communication is one of the most essential skills for individuals at every level of an  

organization, from entry-level through senior management. As we learn to communicate more effectively, we create and maintain a more open and productive work environment. Effective communication can help enhance engagement, foster understanding, and build constructive relationships with co-workers, donors, volunteers, board members, and  

supervisors/supervisees. This class will expand your understanding of communication and teach you how to put this knowledge into practice. You’ll learn about different communication styles and how you can communicate and work more effectively with others, including those who have different approaches to communication, are from a different generation, or are resistant to change/new ideas. We’ll also provide a framework for how to engage in difficult conversations to address challenges and pursue opportunities to improve your outcomes. 

Effective Strategic Planning for Today’s Nonprofits (bring a board member session) 

How does a nonprofit plan effectively during changing and uncertain times? In this class, you will learn modern approaches to strategic planning that will strengthen your nonprofit’s ability to pursue its mission in rapidly changing conditions. We’ll explore techniques for assessing your environment, gaining clarity on changing community needs, and developing strategies that can be adapted to meet new opportunities or challenges over time. This class will show you how to build a plan that will drive strategic thinking across your organization, helping your plan to stand up to unexpected changes both inside and outside your organization. 

Fundamentals of Human Resources 

Too few nonprofits have a dedicated human resource professional on staff. Yet, the minute you have a staff member, or are even thinking of hiring your first staff member, it is imperative that someone in the organization understands the essential human resource responsibilities, regulations, and laws. Because workplace laws guide and control much of what we must do with employees, this class covers the major workplace laws and the legal principles that govern the employment relationship. It will explore the importance of good policies and procedures in creating an effective working environment and introduce some of the most common and challenging HR responsibilities: the performance management cycle; development and management of compensation strategies; and effective guidelines for hiring the right people. 

Understanding and Growing Leadership Capacity (online session, 9am-3pm) 

Effective leadership doesn’t happen by chance or accident; it comes from thoughtfulness, intention, effort, and more. It is a journey, not a destination. Nor is it manifested in one form or in one personal style – it’s present in many. Leadership starts with the personal. Everyone loves to talk about their own or someone else’s “leadership style,” but the reality is if you have just one way to demonstrate leadership you will never be an effective leader. Effective leaders have a toolbox filled with styles and strategies for success. This class will take you through a series of reflective exercises to help you understand what leadership is—and what it is not—and where you see yourself as a leader—or not. Leadership is also a culture, and an abundant resource! This class will provide a tour of different approaches to leadership to help you identify the tools your organization needs to empower  

leadership, at every level. 

Basic Budgeting and Beyond (session is 3 hours, 9am-12pm) 

Do you struggle to prepare your annual budget, lack 100% confidence in it when submitting it to the board, consistently approve it after the fiscal year begins and regularly have actual-to-budget results that you didn’t anticipate? Then this class is for you and your team. Budgeting is a complex, dynamic process that takes a team to effectively prepare, present and perform to. In this class you will learn the seven things you should do to create an annual budget and how to successfully fulfill its promise. From planning a process to presenting your budget, you’ll have it covered after attending Basic Budgeting and Beyond. 

Financial Forecasting: Informed By the Past; Built for the Future (session is 3 hours, 1pm-4pm) 

A strong financial management process is essential to a nonprofit’s well-being. In times of  

concern and uncertainty about the economy and the prospects for funding, the ability to perform accurate and timely financial forecasting becomes indispensable. Day to day challenges, such as gift restrictions, adherence to mission, fixed and variable expenses, call for the skill to accurately forecast cash flow, while being adaptable to changing conditions. The result is a stronger and more resilient organization. This class will explore the basic inputs required to develop and evaluate financial projections for your organization. Understanding how and when resources are available to your organization will not only enable you to guide policy and programmatic decisions but also assist you in strategically planning your organization’s growth and sustainability. 

For more information, please contact Kim Sheffer, Lifelong Learning Program Officer: kims@bccf.org.

On May 21st, 2024, Berks County Community Foundation welcomed students and their families, donors and scholarship fund representatives, and community leaders to our annual Scholarship Luncheon. Excitement filled the ballroom as we prepared to recognize the remarkable achievements of local students and the generosity of donors who enable higher education dreams.

This year, the Community Foundation will award nearly $737,000, bringing the total amount disbursed since its inception in 1994 to an outstanding $13,691,935. Thousands of recipients have benefitted from these scholarships over the years as they continue to pursue higher education.

Among the recipients recognized was Vanesa Aguay, who received both the Berks’ Best Taylor Seitzinger Award for Community Service & Leadership and the Berks’ Best Computer Science Award. Her parents were the first in their family to graduate high school and college after immigrating from Ecuador. They instilled in Vanesa a strong work ethic and a desire to give back. Vanesa shared, “I wouldn’t be where I am now without my parents.” She continued, “These scholarships have propelled me to pursue my dream of becoming an engineer.” Vanesa aims to develop technology that will help address disparities in health care.

The annual Scholarship Luncheon showcases the power of community support in shaping the futures of lifelong learners.  Each scholarship awarded provides resources and motivation for students to carve out their paths, creating an impact in Berks County and beyond.

Another recipient, Tanesha Purohit, received a scholarship from the Wilson Scholarship Fund. This scholarship, created to support graduating students from Wilson High School in any form of post-secondary education, prioritizes well-rounded individuals who excel in academics, extracurricular activities, and community service. Gary Coller, representing the fund, stated, “It’s important to provide financial help to students as they start their educational journeys and give them access to the necessary experiences.”

Looking to make a difference in the lives of local students through educational support? Give to one of our many scholarship funds today!

A program initially started in upstate New York has made its way to Berks County. At the Sinking Spring Public Library, the First Lego League Robotics Club came to life thanks to Randi Zaborowski, the library’s Youth Services Coordinator, and Heather Delity, a STEM teacher at Southwest Middle School in the Reading School District. Coach Delity led many teams prior to facilitating this program at the Sinking Spring Public Library. The program teaches students science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) basics, as well as teamwork. Participants will apply what they learn during regional robot competitions and ultimately strive to earn an invitation to the Lego World Championship.   

First Lego League is designed to inspire youth to experiment and grow their critical thinking, coding, and design skills through hands-on STEM learning and robotics. Participants gain real-world problem-solving experience through a guided, global robotics program.   

At Sinking Spring Public Library, students in fourth through eighth grade met three Saturdays per month to build robotics designed to overcome a specific set of obstacles and challenges in competition. Students learned how to code their programs, build robots, and work together to present their creations.   

“The Sinking Spring Public Library (SSPL) is proud to offer the first program of its kind in Berks, welcoming students from across the county, not just SSPL patrons,” said Randi Zaborowski, Youth Services Coordinator. “This innovative initiative opens new doors for learning and community engagement, setting a precedent for inclusive educational opportunities.” 

All the robotics come in a bag in tiny pieces. It’s up to the students, with the supervision and encouragement of a coach, to build each model from scratch. Students also write the coding on a computer and save it to an external “brain” attached to the robots to feed them directions and commands. The robots are programmed to complete a series of challenges. The team earns points for successfully completing these challenges. The highest score a team can achieve is 500, but the focus isn’t just on the competition score.  

Emphasis is placed on real-time problem solving, working together to find solutions, making unplanned adjustments, sharing ideas, and celebrating students’ hard work. And yet, sometimes, there is failure in the hard work.   

Throughout the different rounds of the competition, students reflected on the importance of failing instead of becoming upset. “It’s important to fail because it gives you a chance to fix your mistake. It’s okay to make mistakes,” student participant Ethan B. from Wilson School District said.   

Learning to work together in those failures really gave the students the opportunity to make decisions and pivot their original plan. Sometimes, there could be disagreements on which decision to make to get the most points for their presentation, but one thing they all agreed on was they needed a T-shirt design for their new club.   

The team named themselves “Robo-Pants,” so the logical final design decision was a robot wearing funky pants. The decision for this robot to have a mullet was also unanimous. Student participant from Wilson School District, Alice Z. explained, “The hardest part of deciding on a final design was trying to get everyone to agree on all the cool ideas.”   

The First Lego League Robotics Club is hopeful to continue into fall 2024 and eventually be part of the world championship.  The club is funded through Friends of the Berks County Public Libraries Fund of Berks County Community Foundation. This fund was created to award grants to Berks County libraries for emergency needs and special projects. For more information on the fund, please click here

The generosity of our donors allowed us to award $610,000 in scholarships in 2023. Each scholarship has specific eligibility criteria based on the donor’s intention when the scholarship was created. Our scholarship application opens on January 1 each year. The deadline to submit all applications is 11:59 P.M. on March 1. Applications cannot be edited or submitted after the March 1 deadline. To maintain a fair process, we cannot make exceptions.

All of the scholarship opportunities currently offered by the Community Foundation are available to students with no need for any documentation from FAFSA for this year only.

How do I apply? Create an account in our online portal using a personal email address. Do not use your school address. Once you create an account, this account will serve as a hub for your universal application. Ensure you have ample time to complete the application, as it may require up to an hour.

What’s a universal application? It’s a single form that matches your answers to the scholarship(s) for which you may qualify.

How do I know if I am eligible for a scholarship? After submitting your application, check your dashboard for additional questions or requests that need to be considered for the matched scholarship.

Where is my dashboard and how do I access it? Click here to watch a video guide on accessing your dashboard.

Should you have questions during the application process, our FAQ section provides helpful information. We wish you the best of luck. If you have questions, you can email scholarships@bccf.org or call us at 610.685.2223 and ask for Kim Sheffer, Lifelong Learning Program Officer.

Innovative classroom projects can serve as a catalyst for strong academic performance. Librarians at Brecknock Elementary School wanted to enhance the conventional reading curriculum by introducing a project that would excite children about reading and promote collaboration and creative thinking.  

To ensure students would enjoy the project and meet their required goals, the library staff tapped into a pre-existing student interest in trading cards. The project allowed students to learn about different book genres while collecting unique trading cards they helped to design.  

The students worked with the library staff to brainstorm book categories and genres. These categories later corresponded to characters on the trading cards. Within each category, graphic design students at Governor Mifflin Senior High School designed fantasy characters that were then printed on the cards. Students could collect different sets of character cards by reading books in a variety of genres. 

Both the elementary students and high school students imagined the specific details of the land the characters lived in, making for a much more collaborative and personalized project. They printed the cards in-house at the Governor Mifflin Print Shop.  

“The cards motivated third and fourth grade library users to thoughtfully explore new books that represent diverse characters, topics, and genres, and promote a sense of belonging and connection,” said Rachel Sebastian, Learner-Centered K-4 Teacher Librarian. 

The cards often encouraged children to pick books outside of their comfort zones. Teachers sometimes find it challenging to get children to develop an interest in nonfiction work, specifically nonfiction that is not about animals. This trading card project tackled this challenge by rewarding students for reading books outside of their comfort zone, as children collected different cards by checking out books of various genres from the library. 

In May, the library held a trading card convention, where students set up booths to share their favorite cards. 

The Literacy Trading Card program at Brecknock Elementary School breathed new life into the world of reading. By mixing the joys of reading and collecting, the initiative has succeeded in creating excited readers who view books as more than just words on paper. This innovative project shows students the magic that lies within every page and the endless possibilities that words can unlock. 

Funding for this project came from the Teacher Mini-Grants program of Berks County Community Foundation. To apply for a teacher mini-grant, please click here.

This article is part of our 2023 Annual Report. To read the entire report, download it here.

Reading, PA – Youth Volunteer Corps of Reading (YVCR) has recognized Wilson High School junior, Samantha Martinez, with its annual Youth of the Year Award. As the youth program arm of VOiCEup Berks, YVCR engages over 500 Berks County students annually in projects that serve the community. This award is given to one student who has shown exemplary leadership skills, has advanced the mission of YVCR through volunteerism and the development of creative YVCR projects, and has the highest level of volunteer commitment recorded in the program year.

This program year, Samantha served over 230 hours on community projects ranging from volunteering at homeless shelters, to helping develop and run summer story time and playground programs, to facilitating conversations about equality and justice for groups of students in her school and adults in the community. Since her involvement with YVCR began five years ago, Samantha has amassed over 500 hours of service with the program, making Samantha the first recipient of the YVCR 500-Hour Award as well.

Samantha Martinez – Photo Courtesy of VOiCEup Berks

Samantha began her journey with YVCR as a sixth grader at Reading Southern Middle School. In middle school she worked with a group of her peers, developing projects to help underserved women and girls gain access to menstrual products. As a high school student at Wilson, Samantha has gone on to be a leader within the Stand Together Against Racism (S.T.A.R.) youth-driven initiative. She also serves as a YVCR Youth Mental Health Ambassador and served her first term on the Youth Advisory Board of Berks County Community Foundation and Youth Volunteer Corps.

“She is the epitome of grace, kindness and strength. Her leadership skills and ability to make everyone around her feel at ease makes her light impossible to ignore. She is a true leader and community changemaker.” says Lindsay Sites, YVCR Program Director.

“Having the opportunity to be a part of YVCR for the past five years has definitely changed my life for the better” says Samantha. “This program has not only taught me how to speak up for what’s right and be a better person, but it has also given me the chance to make lifelong friendships. I am beyond grateful to have accepted this award and hope to continue being a change maker in my community in the years to come.”

Samantha received the Youth of the Year recognition at the annual YVCR Awards Ceremony on August 1. Other students honored at the event included five of Samamtha’s fellow Wilson classmates – Jaida Garber, Kemi Ojikutu, Sindura Sridhar, Mia Worley and Athena Worley – who were each honored with the 100-in-One Award for completing over 100 hours of service to the community through YVCR in one program year. Cadence Perez from Muhlenberg High School received the Heart of YVC Award and the YVCR club at Northeast Middle School in Reading received the YVCR Project of the Year Award for its project addressing domestic violence and supporting Safe Berks.

Youth Volunteer Corps of Reading focuses on developing leadership skills and promoting a lifetime commitment to service among youth by offering student-driven volunteer projects for youth ages 11 to 18 on Saturdays, after school, during school, virtually, and during the summer. YVC of Reading, hosted by VOiCEup, is one of over 30 affiliates of Youth Volunteer Corps, headquartered in Kansas City. YVC of Reading has engaged hundreds of young people from diverse backgrounds in over 35,000 hours of service to help this community over the past 7 years. Find more information at www.voiceupberks.org/yvc.  VOiCEup Berks is a fund of Berks County Community Foundation.

To learn more about the fund, click here

Press release originally published by VOiCEup Berks. Contact Contact: Christi Terefenko, Executive Director, christi@voiceupberls

YVC Awards 8.01.2023

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Teachers across Berks County are finding new ways to keep children engaged in learning by innovating the pre-existing curriculum. Teachers at Mifflin Park Elementary School wanted to help their students who struggle with reading, which may or may not be the result of the student learning English as a second language. By modifying the curriculum with their Stories and Steps Program, teachers were able to make literature more accessible and fun for students who needed extra help.

The Stories and Steps program was created in 2021 to help students get more comfortable with reading and understanding the English language. Students participating in the program were primarily struggling readers, and or in the process of learning the English language. The program had 101 students participate in total. These children walked together while listening to audiobooks of children’s literature.

According to Corinne Brumbach, librarian at Mifflin Park Elementary, and Diane Richards, chief financial officer, students were incredibly responsive to the program. It was reported that 100 percent of the participants wanted to take part in another audiobook club. When asked about the program’s impact on the students, Brumbach and Richards shared quotes from the students.

Has the audiobook helped you? How?

“Yes, I learned new things and I can hear it just like the author wanted it to be heard.”

Do you enjoy listening to audiobooks?

“Yes, I could hear how to say words.”

Because of the program, students developed deeper engagement with the reading material and a stronger interest in reading. In the future, Mifflin Park Elementary hopes to offer the program for the entire school year instead of a portion of the school year.

This project was funded by a mini-grant from the Berks County Association of School Retirees Scholarship and Grant Fund. This fund was created to provide a scholarship to a Berks County senior and mini-grants for classroom projects. To learn more about this fund, visit https://bccf.org/funds/berks-county-association-of-school-retirees-scholarship-and-mini-grant-fund/

In 2021, a $15,000 grant from Berks County Community Foundation to Our Town Foundation supported local arts in Hamburg. With a mission of revitalizing, promoting, and preserving the downtown historic district of Hamburg, Our Town Foundation wanted to reignite arts and culture in the community after the pandemic. The grant paid for performers and art teachers and marketing expenses. Activities included: 

Some of these activities were brought back to the community for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic. Our Town Foundation suffered financial loss during the pandemic due to the temporary closing of the Strand Theatre and the Art & Crafts Gallery.  

The community was very receptive to these planned events and opportunities. Many people took advantage of the art classes in the area. The movie screenings were popular among children and their families, especially movies related to holidays. The Polar Express movie screening around Christmastime sold out completely! With these movie screenings, Our Town Foundation entertained families and children while simultaneously supporting its mission by promoting and using a historical landmark in the town.  

Funding for these projects came from our 2021 Special Programs: Berks County Arts & Culture Ramp Up.  The goal of this one-time program was to provide grants that would support Berks County’s nonprofit arts and culture organizations as they ramped back up during the fourth quarter of 2021 or 2022.  The grant to Our Town Foundation was one of fourteen that was awarded through the program.

Reading, PA, July 13, 2023 –Berks County Community Foundation, and McMahon, a Bowman company, is pleased to announce that Andrew Kline, an engineering undergraduate student at Villanova University, has earned the 2023 Joseph and Peggy McMahon Transportation Engineering Scholarship. This marks back-to-back awards of the scholarship to Kline. The award is competitively selected through the Berks County Community Foundation.

Established in 2018, the Joseph and Peggy McMahon Transportation Engineering Scholarship provides financial assistance for college students who have demonstrated a commitment to transportation engineering as their chosen career. The scholarship seeks to recognize individuals who demonstrate leadership and actively give back through programs dedicated to helping individuals and communities served by the engineering industry.

Building on a strong academic foundation from 2022, this year Kline stepped up his leadership role as the President of the Villanova University Student Chapter of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), by coordinating the 2023 ASCE Mid-Atlantic East Student Symposium, which saw participation of 12 schools and more than 250 attendees. He also served his second year as the College of Engineering Senator within the Villanova University Student Government Association and was elected to serve as the Speaker of the Senate. Kline was also appointed as a student representative of the Villanova University Board of Trustees. Outside of his professional and school activities, Kline has served as the Judge of Elections for the Berks County Election Services department running polling locations for the last three elections.

Academically, Kline has started taking transportation-oriented internships and engineering classes and plans to expand that to include transportation system design in the fall of 2023. While being extremely active in school and professional societies, Kline has also maintained a 3.47 GPA in his civil engineering major.

“I appreciate the commitment that Joseph and Peggy McMahon have made to the transportation engineering field as a whole and am honored to receive their scholarship for the second year in a row,” Kline said. “Their continued support is enabling me to attain my goals and dreams to help communities through thoughtful and important transportation engineering design.”

“We are proud to provide the Joseph and Peggy McMahon Transportation Engineering scholarship for its fifth year,” said Joseph McMahon, P.E., Founder of McMahon Associates, Inc. “It’s gratifying for us to see the remarkable contributions that students like Andrew are already making to our profession. He is demonstrating year-over-year his strong commitment to serving our professional and local communities, and this is the very core of why we established the scholarship. We wish Andrew good luck in his upcoming academic year and continued success in his career pursuits.”

The Joseph and Peggy McMahon Transportation Engineering scholarship was created by the Board of Directors of McMahon Associates in tribute to the firm’s founder Joseph McMahon, and his wife, Peggy McMahon. The couple established McMahon in 1976 with a “Pay It Forward” dedication at its core, and this scholarship fund preserves their legacy and promotes that commitment into the future to support new engineering generations. The fund, established through Berks County Community Foundation, provides scholarships to college students who have declared and have been accepted into, the major of civil engineering with a focus on transportation engineering. For more information, interested and qualified students should go to https://bccf.org/funds/joseph-and-peggy-mcmahon-transportation-engineering-scholarship-fund/.

About McMahon

Since 1976, McMahon has specialized in delivering innovative transportation engineering, planning, design and technology solutions to our clients.  We have built trusted and lasting relationships by satisfying, and often surpassing, the needs of both governmental and private sector clients. We provide services and consulting expertise for transportation projects in a variety of travel modes from planning, to design and permitting, through construction.

In May 2022, McMahon joined forces with Bowman Consulting Group Ltd, as an acquisition of the publicly-traded firm. Bowman is a trusted, multi-disciplinary engineering & survey consulting firm offering a broad range of real estate, energy, infrastructure and environmental management solutions to both public and private clients from locations across the country.  

About Berks County Community Foundation

Berks County Community Foundation is a nonprofit corporation that serves as a civic leader for our region by developing, managing, and distributing charitable funds aimed at improving the quality of life in Berks County.

Media Contact:

Erica Caceres, Communication Manager, Berks County Community Foundation | ericac@bccf.com 610.685.2223

A grant to the Mifflin Area YMCA from the Community Foundation’s Russell L. Hiller Charitable Trust Fund supported Y on the Fly, an on-the-move program that promotes health and wellness for local families. 

Y on the Fly stopped at different locations in the Governor Mifflin area. Each stop was themed around a different component of health and wellness, such as public safety, physical fitness, creativity, and mental health. The activities at each stop worked to promote family engagement and connection.  

For example, activities at the Nutrition Stop included a children’s activity book with nutrition-themed pages such as “Eat Right, Eat Healthy.” Families were encouraged to complete activities like a word search and food log. The children took part in a nutrition relay, where they ran and sorted healthy and unhealthy food. This relay, which used toy food, allowed children to partake in physical activity while applying the new knowledge they’d gained from the activity book.  

Hosting this program helped the YMCA educate children about taking care of their health. The YMCA also educated families about different services offered by the YMCA and other community resources.  

In the future, the Mifflin Area YMCA hopes to expand this program to reach more families.  

The grant that supported this program came from the Russell L. Hiller Charitable Trust Fund. The Russell L. Hiller Charitable Trust Fund was created in 2003 after the passing of Judge Russell L. Hiller. This fund was created with the goal of providing scholarships to Governor Mifflin students, as well as providing funding for programs that will benefit the residents of Governor Mifflin Area School District.  

To learn more about the Russell L. Hiller Charitable Trust Fund, visit https://bccf.org/funds/russell-l-hiller-charitable-trust-2/ 

For more information about the Mifflin Area YMCA, visit https://www.ymcarbc.org/branch/mifflin/