Conestoga Valley SEEDS

Conestoga Valley SEEDS was born out of a heart of love, from Conestoga Valley school social worker, Katie Reiff. At the time, she was the only social worker in the district, and as she worked with families she continued to see there were many barriers and a limited access to tools and resources needed, for healthy thriving individuals. In 2019, Katie reached out to several people she knew personally who had a variety of connections to the CV school district and all had a heartbeat for the CV community and their neighbors who were facing barriers.

Katie invited this small group to begin touring other local “hubs” in Lancaster County. This group wanted to learn more about what other “hubs” in our surrounding communities were doing. Some of the communities and “hubs” they connected with were: New Holland (CrossNet), Denver/Ephrata (Real Life), Paradise (The Factory), Elizabethtown (ECHOs), and Quarryville (Solanco Neighborhood Ministries). This group of 5-7 individuals spent about two years visiting these and other “hubs”. They spent time meeting with their directors, touring their facilities, and asking lots and lots of questions. They compiled information, as they dreamed of starting a CV “hub.”

Then COVID hit, pausing any real forward movement for about a year.

In the Fall of 2021, the group relaunched, meeting monthly. They selected a core group of people to form their first board of directors: Michelle Kime (President), Kristen Hershey (Vice President), Katie Reiff (Secretary), Sue Orth (Treasurer), Sally Bredeman, Chris Lautsbaugh, and Dan Cloyd. In the Fall of 2022, SEEDS became an official 501c3 non-profit organization!

Conestoga Valley SEEDS was formed to cultivate a healthy, thriving Conestoga Valley community. SEEDS is focusing on three key areas: Housing Resources, Educational Supports, Health Services.

In January 2024, Michelle Kime and Kristen Hershey stepped off of the board and became our first employees. They are our Co-Directors. Since that time we have added new board members and are dreaming of additional employees. In August 2025, they opened the doors of their first brick & mortar space that will welcome neighbors and be a place of connection, resources and relationship.

We want to work smarter, not harder, building bridges and strong partnerships between SEEDS, the Conestoga Valley School District, the CV community, and other non-profit organizations who are already doing great work. SEEDS wants to walk alongside all our neighbors living in the Conestoga Valley community. We want to make tools and resources, many of which do exist in Lancaster County, more accessible to those within our CV Community. We don’t want to reinvent the wheel when it comes to resources in Lancaster County, but we do feel like the spokes of the wheel need to be longer.

In October 2022, we launched our first program, Adult English as a Second Language (ESL) Classes.