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Funds Raised For Beloved Staff Member

Jamestown High School students are pictured Wednesday morning presenting a check from the school’s Penny Wars fundraiser to custodian Andy Fields and his family. Field was recently diagnosed with a brain tumor. P-J photo by Katrina Fuller

They say a penny saved is a penny earned, but sometimes a penny given means a whole lot more.

Jamestown High School students gave back to a beloved staff member during their annual Penny Wars event on Wednesday, raising $3,600 for custodian Andy Field.

Field was recently diagnosed with a brain tumor. He attended the closing event for the Penny Wars campaign with his family.

Penny Wars is an annual fundraising tradition at Jamestown High School, where freshmen, sophomores, juniors and seniors compete to see who can raise the most change before Christmas break. This year, the seniors raised the most funds, causing class advisors and student leaders to be pied in the face with whipped cream or slimed in the high school auditorium.

Before the slime and pies were disbursed, class members and teachers gathered on stage to present the check for the funds raised to Field and his family members. Field received a standing ovation from students in the auditorium, while several students called out “We miss you, man!”

After the presentation, Penny Field, wife of Andy Field, said the fundraising effort of the students was a “blessing.”

“It really is (a blessing.) We have bills to pay and stuff like that,” she said. “It’s just amazing to see that the kids and the staff have thought so much of him after working here for so many years.”

Field has been employed with the Jamestown Public Schools District for 42 years.

“I started when I was 19, and then I just stayed,” he said. “This was my home.”

Field said he would love to come back and visit the students, but he doesn’t want to disrupt classes. He said he always attended the A Cappella Choir concerts and took part in the various activities and presentations put on by various high school groups.

Penny Field wanted to advise the public to “spend a lot of time with family.”

“What Andy is going through is a terminal illness, and every day should be special,” she said. “We really appreciate all the students, all the staff and everybody being so supportive. It’s really made Andy hold through a lot. Otherwise, as of right now, if he wasn’t so lucky to have caught this when they did, he wouldn’t be here today.”

One day at the family campsite, Field was getting dressed and accidentally hit his head on his dresser. He was taken by helicopter to UPMC Hamot in Erie, Pa. The doctor who treated him said if he hadn’t gone to the hospital that day, he might have had only two days to live.

The Fields said they do not currently have a GoFundMe account set up; however, donations from the public can be sent to Jamestown High School at 350 E. Second St. in Jamestown.

Senior class president Mia Brown said Penny Wars is a longtime tradition.

“We like to give back to families in need,” she said. “(We) donate all throughout December, and then at the end, we have a little friendly competition against the other classes.”

Sienna D’Angelo, senior class vice president, and Leanne Safford, senior class treasurer, said they were glad to be a part of the event and benefit the Fields family.

“We just want to say thank you to Mr. Field,” D’Angelo said. “We are so grateful for everything that he’s done for our school, and he’s such an integral part of our school walking down the halls. You see him and everybody knows him. Everybody loves him. So, it’s really special for us to be able to give back to him because of all that’s he’s given to us throughout the years.”

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