The refrigerator was empty, the children hadn’t eaten all day, and a desperate mother of three didn’t know where to turn.
For Chad Evans, a retired Reading police officer, the memory of that struggling family remains a powerful reminder of why community support services matter.
The mother, whom he called Mary, lived with her children in a cramped second-floor apartment. Her oldest son had special needs and used a wheelchair, Evans said, making the apartment particularly difficult to navigate.
With no food or money, Mary called the police for help.
Evans and his fellow officers began contacting community agencies, including several supported by United Way of Berks County. Eventually, they secured food and connected the family with additional resources.
“The circumstances didn’t magically disappear, and Mary and her children had a long road ahead of them,” Evans recalled. “But this time something was different because for the first time in a long time, Mary had hope.”
It’s one of several stories Evans now shares as a loaned campaign specialist for United Way’s annual fundraising campaign, which has a goal of $10.5 million.
For Evans, the assignment represents both an opportunity to help others and a chance to follow in the footsteps of his father, the late Irv Evans, who devoted 25 years to United Way campaigns.
“I wanted to see what kept him coming back here for 25 years,” Evans said. “See what he saw, felt what he felt.”
Irv Evans began volunteering in 1991 while employed by Met-Ed and continued after his retirement.
In a 2016 Reading Eagle interview, he recalled visiting United Way partner Easter Seals during his first campaign and seeing a little girl struggling to walk with braces and crutches.
The child looked up, smiled and said hello.
“Right there, she melted my heart,” he said. “I’ve never forgotten that.”
Irv died in 2022 at age 81. That year’s United Way campaign, which raised more than $11 million, was dedicated to his memory.
His son, who retired from the Reading Police Department in 2015 after 29 years, now works as a construction foreman for New Castle Lawn & Landscape.
When company CEO Brad Stephenson and his wife, Tanya, became a co-chairs of this year’s campaign, Evans saw an opportunity to continue his father’s legacy.
New Castle agreed to lend him to United Way for the approximately 12-week campaign while continuing to pay his salary.
Evans is one of 16 loaned campaign specialists this year, said Christine Spanier, United Way’s vice president of marketing and communications.
Spanier said the specialists work with businesses and organizations throughout Berks, encouraging employees to support United Way programs.
“They are the backbone of our campaign,” she said. “They multiply our staff basically, and they amplify the message, and they just make wonderful connections.”
From left, Brian Pascal of Penske Transportation Solutions, Chad Evans of New Castle Lawn & Landscape and Chad Wall of Brentwood Industries are among 16 loaned campaign specialists working on United Way of Berks County’s 2026 campaign. Their employers continue paying their salaries during their service. (MICHELLE LYNCH-READING EAGLE)
The specialists undergo three weeks of training, including public speaking instruction, visits to supported agencies and team-building exercises, Spanier noted.
Evans said the experience opened his eyes to the breadth of community needs and created a sense of camaraderie among the participants.
Chad Wall of Brentwood Industries, who is serving his second year as a specialist, described the relationships as one of the program’s greatest rewards.
“The training really shows you the concept of teamwork, and everybody comes together,” Wall said. “We were pulling for each other and just rooting for each other. It was something special to be a part of.”
Evans said the experience has helped him understand something else about his father’s devotion to United Way.
“I think even maybe a bigger part of it is just the people here,” Evans said of the organization’s staff and volunteers. “It’s like one big family here.”
Whether he continues volunteering for 25 years remains to be seen, but Evans hopes to build on the example his father set.
“Hopefully, I can maybe continue my dad’s legacy somewhat,” he said. “And maybe create one of my own.”
For Evans, the work also brings back memories of people he encountered during his police career: a homeless man huddled on a freezing Penn Street bench, a mother fleeing domestic violence with her children and families struggling to survive.
All received aid through United Way partner agencies, he said.
Those experiences give his fundraising presentations a deeply personal dimension.
“No one can help everyone,” he said, “but together we can help someone. And for that person in that moment, someone can mean everything.”