{"id":314585,"date":"2026-10-26T15:08:12","date_gmt":"2026-10-26T15:08:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/314585\/"},"modified":"2026-10-26T15:08:12","modified_gmt":"2026-10-26T15:08:12","slug":"chad-evans-carries-on-fathers-united-way-legacy-in-berks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/314585\/","title":{"rendered":"Chad Evans carries on father’s United Way legacy in Berks"},"content":{"rendered":"

The refrigerator was empty, the children hadn\u2019t eaten all day, and a desperate mother of three didn\u2019t know where to turn.<\/p>\n

For Chad Evans, a retired Reading police officer, the memory of that struggling family remains a powerful reminder of why community support services matter.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

With no food or money, Mary called the police for help.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe circumstances didn\u2019t magically disappear, and Mary and her children had a long road ahead of them,\u201d Evans recalled. \u201cBut this time something was different because for the first time in a long time, Mary had hope.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s one of several stories Evans now shares as a loaned campaign specialist for United Way\u2019s annual fundraising campaign, which has a goal of $10.5 million.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wanted to see what kept him coming back here for 25 years,\u201d Evans said. \u201cSee what he saw, felt what he felt.\u201d<\/p>\n

Irv Evans began volunteering in 1991 while employed by Met-Ed and continued after his retirement.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

The child looked up, smiled and said hello.<\/p>\n

\u201cRight there, she melted my heart,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019ve never forgotten that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Irv died in 2022 at age 81. That year\u2019s United Way campaign, which raised more than $11 million, was dedicated to his memory.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

When company CEO Brad Stephenson and his wife, Tanya, became a co-chairs of this year\u2019s campaign<\/a>, Evans saw an opportunity to continue his father\u2019s legacy.<\/p>\n

New Castle agreed to lend him to United Way for the approximately 12-week campaign while continuing to pay his salary.<\/p>\n

Evans is one of 16 loaned campaign specialists this year, said Christine Spanier, United Way\u2019s vice president of marketing and communications.<\/p>\n

Spanier said the specialists work with businesses and organizations throughout Berks, encouraging employees to support United Way programs.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey are the backbone of our campaign,\u201d she said. \u201cThey multiply our staff basically, and they amplify the message, and they just make wonderful connections.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"FromFrom 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)<\/p>\n

The specialists undergo three weeks of training, including public speaking instruction, visits to supported agencies and team-building exercises, Spanier noted.<\/p>\n

Evans said the experience opened his eyes to the breadth of community needs and created a sense of camaraderie among the participants.<\/p>\n

Chad Wall of Brentwood Industries, who is serving his second year as a specialist, described the relationships as one of the program\u2019s greatest rewards.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe training really shows you the concept of teamwork, and everybody comes together,\u201d Wall said. \u201cWe were pulling for each other and just rooting for each other. It was something special to be a part of.\u201d<\/p>\n

Evans said the experience has helped him understand something else about his father\u2019s devotion to United Way.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think even maybe a bigger part of it is just the people here,\u201d Evans said of the organization\u2019s staff and volunteers. \u201cIt\u2019s like one big family here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Whether he continues volunteering for 25 years remains to be seen, but Evans hopes to build on the example his father set.<\/p>\n

\u201cHopefully, I can maybe continue my dad\u2019s legacy somewhat,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd maybe create one of my own.\u201d<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

All received aid through United Way partner agencies, he said.<\/p>\n

Those experiences give his fundraising presentations a deeply personal dimension.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo one can help everyone,\u201d he said, \u201cbut together we can help someone. And for that person in that moment, someone can mean everything.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The refrigerator was empty, the children hadn\u2019t eaten all day, and a desperate mother of three didn\u2019t know…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":314586,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[349,182,139,28,128,130,129,706],"class_list":["post-314585","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-reading","tag-berks-county","tag-local-news","tag-news","tag-pennsylvania","tag-reading-city","tag-reading-city-headlines","tag-reading-city-news","tag-top-stories-reg"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/314585","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=314585"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/314585\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/314586"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=314585"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=314585"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=314585"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}