Listen to the interview here!
Beth Ireland
Toni Reece: Hi there. This is Toni Reece. Welcome to the Get Inspired! Project for Berks County Living Magazine. Today I am with Beth Ireland. Welcome, Beth.
Beth Ireland: Thanks, Toni. Nice to be here.
Toni: So Beth, tell us a little bit about yourself.
Beth: I am 32 years old. I work in Marketing and Graphic Design. I live in the Centre Park Historic District with my husband, Ben, and our two rescue dogs, Stella and Jackson.
Toni: Welcome to the Get Inspired! Project. What does inspiration mean to you?
Beth: I think that inspiration is a pretty abstract concept. I think that it can be based on an experience that happens to you, something you read, something you see, something you hear. I think that it can come from something positive that happens or something negative that happens. For me, at this point in my life right now, inspiration is definitely coming from a positive place. I see what’s happening in my neighborhood in Centre Park and in Reading, and it is absolutely inspiring me to be a part of that, and hopefully to inspire others to get on that same train.
Toni: Can inspiration be a bad thing?
Beth: I don’t really think so, but I think it could certainly stem from a negative event, like if you witnessed a crime and if you wanted to use that to volunteer at a victim’s support group or something like that. I think you can certainly find inspiration in negative things, but I hope you don’t get inspired negatively.
Toni: So for you, you are inspired currently with community development that’s happening.
Beth: Absolutely.
Toni: Okay. Taking that community development and being inspired by it, how are you putting that into practice here in Berks County?
Beth: I got involved. When we moved into Centre Park four years ago, my husband and I both volunteered right off the bat. At the end of that year, I joined the board of Directors, and then at the beginning of 2013, I accepted the nomination to be the President of the Board. I take it really seriously.
I love my neighborhood. I love being involved, and I try to impress that upon everybody I come in contact with. If we’re out walking our dog and meet a neighbor that we’ve never met before, I introduce us to that person. I tell them how they can get involved. I try to get new people invited to get-togethers that we’re doing, our Centre Park events, so that they too get that feeling of involvement and feel like they are truly part of the community.
Toni: That’s what I want to get to. You are inspiring others the way you were inspired to get involved to do what? What is that?
Beth: It’s two-part. On a micro level, it’s definitely within Centre Park. The Historic District was began in 1982 by a group of about 25 people who recognized that the architecture in the neighborhood was extraordinary, and they wanted to preserve it, so they came together as a community to make the Historic District happen. Those people, I don’t actually know any of the ones who were the original founders, but I know people that have been in the neighborhood for 30 years, and I interact with them. They inspired me to get involved in Centre Park, and I want to inspire other people to get involved in Centre Park.
On a bigger level, it’s obviously in the city. Everybody knows there are problems in the city. A lot of people talk about how Reading used to be so great and it was this and it was that, and it’s never going to be… and I agree, it is never going to be again what it was once, but that doesn’t mean it can't be better. I look at people that are really involved in this city right now like Hector at Sofrito, the Gilmore Henne guys, the GRYP group, and see that they’re not just talk. They’re walking the walk. They’re getting involved in their community. They’re supporting their community. They’re really raising the bar for what it means to be pro-Reading.
That’s what it all comes back to, to me. I certainly want to get people involved with Centre Park. It’s a great neighborhood within the city, but on a bigger level, I want people to recognize that Reading does have a future and it lies on us to make it happen, to get up and move.
Toni: The bigger picture is although you are in this area of Reading, which is the Centre Park district, the work that you guys are doing is to demonstrate that community development can happen in a positive manner, and that that can then overflow into other parts of the city.
Beth: Absolutely. I try to look at it as Centre Park can be a model for what the rest of the city can be. It’s like any city. Is there going to be a bad neighborhood? Absolutely; but it doesn’t have to be the majority. We in Centre Park, our neighbors look out for each other. We keep our streets clean. We take each other’s trash out when we’re on vacation. I personally thought that that was the type of community that died in my mom’s generation. To walk into this neighborhood and find friends that will lend me a cup of sugar – and I’m not even kidding – it’s just such a special and unique place to be. I just want to share that with everybody. I want everybody to know that they can live like that, too. This is such a unique place, and why can’t Reading look at the model that we’re creating and build from there?
Toni: Who in Berks County inspires you?
Beth: Definitely the ones I said earlier. Hector Ruiz at Sofrito. It’s amazing what he’s doing. His restaurant is in Centre Park, so of course we extra love him for that, but he’s amazing at being all-inclusive. He is targeting all kinds of different people to come into his restaurant. He’s encouraging people to come into the city for good food and good drinks. He gets great music, and he gives back to the community. He supports by purchasing local produce. He’s fantastic. I think if all business owners could be like Hector, it would be a better place.
Of course, Gilmore Henne, with what they’re doing with the playgrounds – they’re not working on one in Reading right now, but they did, and they have a followup there. They’re working on creating a safer place for kids and then educating those kids, which is really important, because those kids are our future. GRYP, of course they’re also really involved in the community in giving back and volunteering. All of those people are really inspirational to me.
Toni: What would you like your legacy to be?
Beth: I think that’s really hard to think about when I’m so young, but I guess when I look at what I’m doing and what I’m passionate about now, I hope that my legacy involves me having been a part of the renaissance of Reading, and that I inspired other people to also be a part of that.
Toni: And so therefore lies your living legacy – not just your legacy when you’re gone.
Beth: I guess so!
Toni: Thank you so much for being part of the Get Inspired! Project.
Beth: Thank you, Toni.
