Toni Reece: Hi there. This is Toni Reece, and welcome to the Get Inspired! Project for Berks County Living magazine. Today I have Danielle Kelly with me. Hi, Danielle.
Danielle Kelly: Hi.
Toni: How are you today?
Danielle: I’m doing great.
Toni: Good. So, Danielle, take a moment and tell us a little bit about yourself.
Danielle: Sure. My name once again is Danielle Kelly. I’m actually born and raised here in Reading, Pennsylvania, Berks County. I graduated from Reading High in 1995. Right now, currently I’m working at Carpenter Technology. I’ve been with them for 13 years. I’m married almost two years. I have a daughter who is 21. I’m very involved in the community.
Toni: So, you do a lot around the community. You were actually telling me about some of the things that you do prior to the interview. It sounds like you are one busy lady.
Danielle: I try to keep busy.
Toni: Alright. Well, let’s go into the Project, okay?
Danielle: Sure.
Toni: What does inspiration mean to you?
Danielle: Inspiration to me is somebody who makes an impact on your life, who inspires you to do good for the community or to give back to people. To inspire somebody, it’s something so simple or something so small. It doesn’t have to be something huge. It could just be helping somebody cross the street or something, but I just think inspiration comes from who you are.
Toni: Do you remember the last time you were inspired?
Danielle: Absolutely. Just over the weekend.
Toni: Tell us.
Danielle: You always hear these stories about paying it forward. I’m a huge, huge fan of paying it forward. Over the weekend, I was at the farmers market, and there was a lady who had just got done working third shift. She was excited that she got done early. She was at the farmers market. She was going to get all her stuff done before she went home. The machine at the one stand wasn’t working and it wasn’t running her card. So I said to the gentleman, “What’s her total?” He told me the amount.
Let me rewind this. I never have cash on me. Never. That day before I went to the market, I got cash out of the ATM machine. I’m there, and he tells me what her total was. Between my total and her total, that’s exactly what I had. I had the exact amount, and I thought to myself, “This was meant to happen. I was put here at this moment for this reason with this exact amount of money to help this woman out.”
I told my husband that, but to me, I just think it’s very important to just help somebody who might be in need. She didn’t ask for it. I didn’t even want acknowledgement of it. The guy said, “Well, I’ll let her know.” I said, “Please don’t. You can tell her once I walk away, but I didn’t want her to know.” I just think if somebody can do something so small and something so simple, it makes a huge difference in the world.
Toni: What a great story! How would you put that pay it forward again or whether it’s a large act or a small act that you feel so inspired by, how do you put that into practice here in Berks County?
Danielle: Well, like I said, I guess before we even started the program, we were discussing about working for Carpenter. Carpenter is now trying to build their Carpenter Cares committee. One of the things that we do is we do a lot of events outside of work on the weekends. Sometimes during the workday, but not very often. Mostly on the weekends. We go out and we give back to the community. We go out and we service people’s needs.
This morning was one of those things. I got a chance to take a tour at the Opportunity House. What an amazing, amazing setup they have there. Honestly, the lady was talking and I was standing in the background saying, “Don’t cry, Danielle. Do not cry.” I mean, there’s so many people out there that do so many inspiring things. This is the first time I’m meeting you. You could do tons of amazing things. Those ladies that were talking, you don’t know…just their stories and what they do to help these people out was just so inspiring. I look at myself and I think to myself, “The things that I do are just these tiny little things. These women are doing amazing things for the people of Berks County.”
Toni: But every little thing adds up to that very big thing. It becomes a very big thing.
Danielle: Absolutely.
Toni: How many years have you been doing volunteer work?
Danielle: I’ve been doing volunteer work since I was in high school.
Toni: So, without revealing your age, we’ll just say that there’s maybe some years that have been a lot of volunteering. If you were to think just how many volunteer hours that you’ve put into help others, I would imagine that’s pretty significant.
Danielle: Oh, yeah. I honestly couldn’t even add up of all the things that I’ve done over the years. The gift of helping somebody else is one of the greatest feelings that you can possibly feel. There’s nothing more rewarding than helping somebody who is less fortunate or is down on their luck.
Toni: So, that’s how you put it into practice. First of all, you recognize it, you honor that there’s a need, and then you try to help that need. That’s not too shabby.
Danielle: Thank you.
Toni: So, who in Berks County inspires you?
Danielle: This is the one question I kept playing over in my head. I thought to myself at first I had an answer, and I had somebody who truly inspires me. Her name is Sharon Mast.
Toni: I know Sharon.
Danielle: Okay. I work with Sharon’s husband. She’s one of the most positive people that you could ever meet. I’ve got to say, there’s so many people that have inspired me through my lifetime, going back from when I volunteered in high school. Mr. Campbell was our volunteer teacher. He got us involved in the community. It starts with him, because if it wasn’t for him, who knows if I’d be doing this today.
From there, Rich Tinsman, who I work with at Carpenter…what an amazing person. He had started a committee out in Latrobe, got transferred back here, and he was like, “Listen. We need to do something.” He got five of us together, and from there, we grew overnight to 50 people. Like I said, how do you narrow it down to one person who inspires you when there’s so many people involved in your life that inspire you?
I mean, normally when you’re in this setting of giving back to the community, you’re involved with other people who are also giving back, who love and do exactly what you love and do. I can't say I can really narrow it down to just one person, because there’s so many people who have touched my life. Like I said this morning, I met two other women who were just absolutely amazing, and I think to myself, “Some of them are like angels walking on earth.” There’s these people who just give it their all. To answer your question, I really don’t have one person per se that inspires me, because I have so many people who inspire me.
Toni: Well, you mentioned Sharon Mast, and she embodies that inspiration. So I think what you’ve done, as well as with the other people you’ve mentioned, is you’ve described the characteristics of people that inspire you and why. I really like that saying that there are angels among us that are doing things without any recognition at all. They just do it because it’s the right thing to do.
So, what would you like your legacy to be?
Danielle: That I’m caring. That I love where I came from, that I love what I do, that I love giving back to somebody who needs the help. The one thing I truly believe is we’re all equal. It doesn’t matter what walk of life you come from. We’re all equal. I just want my legacy to be that you’ve just got to keep paying it forward. Keep giving back. Just help somebody. Any small gesture goes a long way.
Toni: Danielle, you and I have not met before this interview, correct?
Danielle: Correct.
Toni: However, I can tell you, I’ve done hundreds and hundreds of these interviews, and it is rare to see such joy as you are talking about giving and the service. Thank you so much for showing up for the Get Inspired! Project.
Danielle: Thank you.
