You can help make a difference at CHOR

Current Volunteer Opportunities

·         Tutors in all subject areas

·         Development Office helpers

·         Individuals to share a talent or hobby

All volunteers need to be at least 21 years of age with current state and child abuse history clearances.  Most opportunities are during the school day.  For more information on any of the above or if you have an idea you would like to present to us, please contact Mindy McIntosh at 610.478.8266 ext. 468 or mmcintosh@childrenshomeofrdg.org 

Turning Tragedies into Acts of Kindness

Rosa and Kid Monderwicz took a personal tragedy of the loss of a child and

turned it into a kind, generous gesture benefiting The Children’s Home of Reading through a Memorial Toy Run. Since then, we have been blessed with donations from two families that have suffered similar losses. The Andrew Smith Memorial Fund recently donated 3 Wii consoles to the children served in our programs.  The Jeremy Carroll Foundation donated Reading Royal tickets for some of our residents and plan to

continue to provide tickets for future activities.  We thank each of these loving families for their generosity and kindness.

Making Healthier Choices

In an effort to promote health and wellness with our residents, our Food Services Department has been very busy implementing a new Wellness Program. We have made healthy strides with our menus by incorporating more whole grains, fresh fruits, and vegetables daily. In helping the residents understand the importance of healthy living, we started a monthly bulletin board

contest to tie in nutrition education and physical activity themes. The clients are excited to participate by designing a bulletin board that will be posted in the cafeteria for all staff and peers to see. We rolled out this program in February and received several artistic

poster entries. The clients are excited about continuing with this project and also having a part in their healthy menu selection.

Residential Services at the Children’s Home of Reading

The Children’s Home of Reading Residential Programs is for adolescent boys, ages 12 – 18, who have been abused or neglected, or face significant mental health challenges often behave in ways that are not socially acceptable without treatment.  When treatment at home is not effective, those behaviors must be confronted in an intensive, supportive environment.  The Children’s Home of Reading provides two distinct residential programs for this purpose. The treatment time is as brief as possible, while allowing necessary time for the child to heal and learn to make better behavioral choices.

The youth who are accepted into these residential programs are carefully chosen because we believe that their behavior can change.  Their choices are often the result of fear, anger, and loss of control over their lives.  Most often, they have experienced traumatic events in their childhood, and need individual and comprehensive intervention to understand the roots of their behaviors so they can find healing.

The Children’s Home of Reading Residential Programs give these youth and their families an opportunity to overcome their challenges.  They learn to take responsibility for their actions and their future…behaviorally, emotionally and academically.  For many of our clients, that empowerment brings healing and positive behavioral changes.  Hope for a better future is restored and lives are forever changed. For more information please visit our web site http://www.childrenshomeofrdg.org/residentialservices.html

The Children’s Home of Reading prepares children for success in life.

Today, the services provided are treatment oriented because the children who pass through our doors face serious barriers to success. They come to us with serious mental health and behavioral challenges. They come to us abused, neglected and afraid. They come to us without hope. While some have loving families that just don’t know how to help their children get through these difficult days, many of them have not experienced childhood in the way that most of us do.

What is The Children's Home of Reading?

Today, The Children's Home of Reading continues to provide a treatment oriented residential environment for children and teenagers, as well as community-based services. Its broad spectrum of services includes specialized foster care, residential treatment programs for adolescent males, educational services, a case management program for drug-addicted moms and their babies, a community based mental health program for children and community programs for youth and families in the Lehigh Valley.

The Children's Home is dedicated to determining the needs of children who are experiencing significant problems in life and meeting those needs in a qualitative manner. Prevention and education as well as traditional treatment methods are emphasized. Services include residential as well as non-residential programs.  We serve over 400 clients each day, including 24-hour residential services.  

For more information please visit our web site http://www.childrenshomeofrdg.org

Our Vision

The Children's Home of Reading will continue to be a leader in the treatment of children and families in crisis by responding to the needs of the local Berks County community while providing a spectrum of services available to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and surrounding states; being known as a provider with a philosophy of acting in the best interest of children and families in need; and being seen as the provider who focuses on the strengths of the children and families we serve. Thus, agencies will seek us first in serving the needs of children and families in crisis. 

Specialized Foster Care Success Story

Tiffany was placed in our Specialized Foster Care program in July 2002.  She was placed in a foster home along with her 2 year old daughter, Tasha.  She has been a very good mom and has exceptional parenting skills.  She has done very well in her placement.  She graduated from Reading High in the Spring.  She will be discharged next month and plans to move in with a previous foster parent with whom she has become good friends.  Tiffany has been accepted to Reading Area Community College with a scholarship. Most of her schooling is paid for with financial aid and a scholarship.  Currently, she is not employed, but is actively seeking employment.

Adoption Services at the Children’s Home

On average approximately sixty percent of foster children are adopted by their foster parents. To meet this growing need, CHOR Youth & Family Services, Inc. has expanded our continuum of care to include Adoption Services. As a SWAN affiliate, our staff are trained to provide services to the child. Families also receive training and services from qualified staff in order to be an adoptive parent. 

Our goal is to reunite foster children with their families. However, if this is not possible we are able to seamlessly transition the child into an adoption setting within our own agency. As part of this new commitment, we will also be teaching all of our foster families to be resource families, which include information sessions on foster parenting and adoptive parenting. Resulting, in a smoother transition for a foster child and their resource family, should adoption become an option. If a family is looking to adopt a child, services to train the family and help to identify a child is also available

  

Please contact a recruiter at 610-478-8129, for more information.

Fraunfelder Scholarship

 The Fraunfelder Scholarship of The Children's Home of Reading is an annual scholarship award based on a trust established in the late 1900s by Lillian Cornett Fraunfelder of Exeter Township, Berks County.  Mrs. Fraunfelder established this trust to provide ongoing support for her two children, Edgar D. and Elsa M. Fraunfelder Keller.  However, after the passing of her children, she directed that the trust's earnings should be used to support post-High School education for a child from The Children's Home of Reading. 

The first scholarship was awarded in 1988. Typically, the trust awards a total of $500 to $2,500 in scholarships each year.  The scholarship may be used "at any accredited college, professional school, or any institution of higher learning, following completion of High School education."

 Fraunfelder Scholarship Application

To apply for the Fraunfelder Scholarship, please fill out the above form and send it to:

Debbie Hartranft, Director of Development

The Children’s Home of Reading

1010 Centre Avenue

Reading, PA 19601

dhartranft@childrenshomeofrdg.org