for immediate release

CONTACT: Jay Purdy (717) 787-7895
HARRISBURG, Jan. 28 -- An elementary school class in Cumberland County today turned over a big check to help save the Pennsylvania monuments at Gettysburg. At a special assembly, the fifth-grade class of teacher Austin Willi at East Pennsboro Elementary School presented a check for $1,000 to Kathi Schue, legislative assistant for state Rep. Harry Readshaw, D-Allegheny, initiator of the Pennsylvania Gettysburg Monuments Project.

The 17 students raised the money through candy sales. The $1,000 will go toward the endowment of a monument to the 148th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry on South Hancock Avenue in the Gettysburg National Military Park. The regiment lost nearly one-third of its members in an advance against the Confederate line in the Wheatfield portion of the battlefield on the second day of the pivotal engagement of the Civil War.

Readshaw was unable to be present for the ceremony due to a prior commitment in Pittsburgh. Schue, along with Craig Caba, secretary of the Gettysburg Battlefield Preservation Association, relayed a message of thanks from Readshaw to the students, and presented each with an "Icons of Freedom" certificate of appreciation.

In addition, Willi was presented with a legislative citation acknowledging his initiative for the Pennsylvania Gettysburg Monuments Project and for actively involving his students in preserving an irreplaceable piece of their Pennsylvania heritage.

"Your contribution is a major milestone in our campaign," said Readshaw in a message delivered to the students. "After all, it is for you, your children and future generations that we are working to preserve the Pennsylvania monuments at Gettysburg."

There are 135 Pennsylvania monuments and markers at Gettysburg. All originally were funded through appropriations from the General Assembly. The Gettysburg Monuments Project was one of several organizations that received donations from students at today's ceremony in the East Pennsboro High School auditorium. Each of the school district's fifth-grade classes adopted a cause to raise money for as part of the school's "Go the Distance" community service program.