CONTACT: Jay Purdy (717) 787-7895

HARRISBURG, June 25--From the perspective of state Rep. Harry Readshaw, D-Allegheny, and his Pennsylvania Gettysburg Monuments Project, students at three schools have special reason to be proud over this coming Fourth of July holiday.

The Fourth will mark the 139th anniversary of the start of the Confederate withdrawal after three bloody days of battle at Gettysburg. Leading the way in accepting the Readshaw Challenge to preserve the monuments to the Pennsylvania volunteers who fought at Gettysburg was Jefferson Elementary School in Allegheny County. Students there raised $2,362.

The fifth-grade class at Governor Mifflin Elementary School in Berks County collected $300 for the monuments, and at Corpus Christi School in Chambersburg, Franklin County, two classrooms did battle in a penny war to see which room could gather the most pennies. When the dust had settled, it was determined that 26,181 pennies had been brought in, or $261.81. The students earmarked the funds to go to the endowment fund for the 155th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry monument on Little Round Top.

In addition to the students, an organized labor group in western Pennsylvania picked up the challenge. The Laborers District Council of Western Pennsylvania contributed $1,000 for monument maintenance endowments.

Readshaw said later this year he expects to turn over $168,000 to the National Park Foundation, which will hold the perpetual trust funds until it is needed for future Pennsylvania monument maintenance projects.

"The people who helped us in the long campaign to preserve the 146 Pennsylvania regimental monuments and markers are eager to see results from their hard work and generosity," said Readshaw.