The Wyomissing Foundation is pleased to announce that Valeri Harteg has joined the Foundation to fill the newly created full-time position of Community Impact & Operations Coordinator. She will be responsible for managing internal operations as well as supporting all foundation grantmaking activities and strategic initiatives.
“We’re thrilled to welcome Valeri to The Wyomissing Foundation team and believe her background and skills will help further our work and benefit the organization in a number of critical areas,” said Pat Giles, President.
Valeri has a Masters of Science in Education, with a concentration in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages, and has most recently been working as an ESL instructor for the Literacy Council of Reading-Berks. Prior to that she spent six years with HIAS Pennsylvania, a refugee resettlement nonprofit in Philadelphia, supporting the educational needs of immigrants. She received her Bachelor’s degree from Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster, after which she served in the Fulbright International Education Exchange Program, living and teaching in Guatemala for one year. She is fluent in Spanish and
has also taught beginning Spanish classes to veterans.
In addition, two other staff members have recently ended their tenure with the Foundation.
• Virginia Rush resigned from her position as Vice President, after seven years with The Wyomissing Foundation, in order to focus on her health and family in the short-term, and plans to explore part-time opportunities in the community in the future. Virginia played an important role with the Foundation, significantly contributing to its effective grantmaking and community and economic development work, as well as managing several organizational special projects.
• Pat Swavely, the Foundation’s Office Administrator for nearly twenty years, retired at the end of April. She provided critical support to the Foundation’s overall operations, its Board of Trustees and staff over that period. Her longevity as the Foundation provided a valuable source of institutional memory as she witnessed the Foundation’s significant growth and development over the years.
“We’re grateful for all the years of service that Virginia Rush and Pat Swavely provided to The Wyomissing Foundation and we wish them great happiness and success going forward,” said Ms. Giles, President. “Given the small size of our organization, they have not only been wonderful colleagues, but also our friends, and they’ll be sorely missed as we say goodbye to them.”
The Wyomissing Foundation, established in 1926 by the industrialist Ferdinand Thun, has been an important organization in the promotion of catalytic efforts to enhance the Berks County community through funding and leadership in the areas of education, arts, the environment, health and human services and, particularly in recent years, in economic and community development.