Please note: Tricia Wertz has respectfully requested that all media inquires regarding these funds be made through Berks County Community Foundation. She does not wish to be contacted directly by the press.

Three Scholarship Funds to Honor
Slain Reading Police Officer Scott A. Wertz

December 6, 2006 - Reading, PA -- Tricia L. Wertz, wife of slain Reading Police Officer Scott A. Wertz, has established three scholarship funds at Berks County Community Foundation to honor his memory.

• The Officer Scott A. Wertz Memorial Berks County Scholarship Fund will provide annual scholarships to Berks County high school seniors who are children of Berks County police officers and plan to continue their education after high school. Click here for an application.
  
  
• The Officer Scott A. Wertz Memorial Wilson Scholarship Fund will provide annual scholarships to Wilson High School seniors who plan to continue their education after high school. Click here for an application.
  
  
• The Officer Scott A. Wertz Memorial Reading Softball Association Scholarship Fund is for graduating high school seniors who are players or umpires in the Reading Softball Association or who are the children or grandchildren of players or umpires in the association. Students must plan to continue their education after high school. Click here for an application.
  
  

All three funds will give preference to students who are planning a career in law enforcement, law, criminal justice or a related field. Applications will be available on the Berks County Community Foundation website (www.bccf.org) in February 2007.

Donations to the funds can be sent to Berks County Community Foundation, P.O. Box 212, Reading, PA 19603. Please note the name of the scholarship fund for which the donation is intended on the memo line.

About Officer Wertz

Officer Scott A. Wertz was a life-long Berks County resident. He was a student in both the Reading and Wilson school districts before graduating from Wilson High School in 1984. He graduated from the Reading Police Academy in 1994 and again in 1997. Prior to that he worked as a correctional officer at Berks County Prison and also worked part-time for the Sinking Spring and South Heidelberg Township police departments.

Wertz joined the Reading Police Department in 1997. He worked in the patrol division and was on the auto theft task force, which is a part of the criminal investigations division. On August 6, 2006, Officer Wertz died in the line of duty. He is survived by a wife and two young sons.

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Berks County Community Foundation, established in 1994, is a public benefit corporation that develops, manages and distributes funds to meet existing and emerging community needs. They administer funds of all sizes and for all purposes, from helping disabled children to building innovative renewable energy sources.