On behalf of the Trustees, I welcome you to the Oley Valley Community Foundation Website.  We are a small  organization of local volunteers and we raise private money for educational purposes.  Our Trustees and Members are an interesting mix of parents of current school children, parents of graduates, actual graduates and good friends. And, although we work closely with the school board and the teachers and the administration, we are a totally independent private charitable organization with our own bylaws, our own Board of Trustees and our own members.

Our purpose, as stated in our bylaws, is to enhance educational opportunities for students, residents, employees and alumni of the Oley Valley School District while encouraging community support and education.

Our philosophy is simple.  In an era of increasing local tax burden and mandated rising educational expenses, we believe there are individuals and families in our community that support the school district and would be willing to give just a little extra to underwrite some of the programs listed above.
 

And that has turned out to be the case.  Since our beginning in 1998, we have raised over $224,000.  Of that total,  $85,000 was spent on programs, 17,500 went to scholarships and while the balance of $86,000 has been invested with the Berks County Community Foundation as a permanent endowment for scholarships.  The following is a list of our scholarship winners over the years:

Laura Seidel
 Denise Noll
Tamsin Gonsalves
Matthew Eshenaur
Laura Richardson
Ashley Wentzel
Keri Houp
 Jonathan Mitchell
Nora Stinley
 Jenna Walsh
Shannon Kline
 Timothy Smith
Alison Reber Olner

Perhaps you know one of them, perhaps not.  But know this – you would be proud of each and every one of them.  These are good kids and they are deserving of our support.

To find out more about us and our work, feel free to call any one of our Trustees or our Executive Director, Heidi Farinas (610-987-4100x1200).

Jerry Johnson