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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE |
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CONTACT: Gabrielle
A. Prutisto |
State Rep. Thomas
Caltagirone |
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Caltagirone seeks to restore neglected cemeteries
HARRISBURG, April 17 -- State Rep. Tom Caltagirone, D-Berks, will introduce legislation to establish a State Cemetery Relief Fund.
The relief fund would be created and paid for with a $1 fee on birth and death certificates. The money in the fund would be used for the restoration and refurbishment of neglected and abandoned cemeteries.
“It is important to preserve the history and legacy of all cemeteries,” Caltagirone said. “They are a part of history; they help us to remember important events and appreciate what our ancestors lived through.”
In 2000, Caltagirone organized a fund-raising and volunteer drive to restore the historic Aulenbach’s Cemetery, an important part of Berks County’s rich heritage that contains the graves of hundreds of veterans from every conflict since the Revolutionary War. It also is home to the graves of children who died during the Berks County flu epidemic.
The fund would be applied by the each county’s commissioners and administered by a State Board of Cemetery Relief Directors.
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