May 14, 2026 (York, PA) – The Women’s Giving Circle (WGC) of York County Community Foundation is pleased to announce the winners of this year’s Carolyn Eyster Steinhauser Prize – Beth Gill-MacDonald and Ruby Martin. Created in 2017 by the WGC, the award honors individuals whose contributions to community-building in York County have been marked by singular excellence, reflecting Ms. Steinhauser’s decades of effectively bringing the community together to address complex challenges.
The award was conferred at the York County Community Foundation’s Annual Meeting event on May 7 at the Yorktowne Hotel. WGC Chair, Jolene Tolbert, shared why WGC selected Beth and Ruby this year saying, “It is because they both have the ability to connect people and foster positive change.”
Beth Gill-MacDonald researched community needs, organized a planning committee, and researched how to bring hospice care to York County. She partnered with both hospitals, worked through countless roadblocks, and brought the community together to found Pappus House, a home providing peace and comfort to those at the end of their lives and to their loved ones. Beth continues to support Pappus House as a volunteer and cheerleader.
Volunteering has always been a big part of Beth’s life. As she is known to say, her purpose in life has always been to help make the world a better place in whatever way she can. She helped launch the OLLI program at Penn State York and her current hands-on volunteer work includes serving as a patient escort at the York Health Center for Planned Parenthood Keystone and providing monthly breakfasts for the youth and staff at York County Youth Development.
Ruby Martin, M.Ed. is a champion for the Early Childhood Education sector. She has worked tirelessly to promote professional development and educational attainment for the field. She started her advocacy work at the local level, working for over 24 years with YWCAs in York County and now is advocating at both the state and national levels as Bureau Director of Early Learning Certification Services for the PA Office of Child Development and Early Learning.
Ruby’s work as Board Chair at the PA Child Care Association resulted in increased revenue to support continuing education for the early childhood education workforce. She also worked with others locally to create the York County Educator Awards, which have awarded over $1.5 million in stipends to York County educators over the past four years.
These two women have addressed needs facing people at vulnerable stages of their lives. Ruby has focused on infants and children who are at the beginning of the cycle of life and Beth has focused on those at the end of the cycle with hospice care.
Their work has contributed greatly to “advance the Women’s Giving Circle’s focus on thoughtful, effective philanthropy to strengthen our community,” Jolene Tolbert concluded.
About WGC:
The Women’s Giving Circle is a group of about 70 women who care deeply about the community. We work together to do more collectively than any of us could accomplish alone.
We educate ourselves about community needs and convene stakeholders so that we can strategically fund projects that address our two investment priorities – education and thriving communities. Since our founding in 2002, we have collectively invested $1.3 million to support these priorities and leveraged millions more. Visit http://www.yorkwgc.org/ to learn more.
Picture of awardees:
