Pearl Harbor fundraiser under way in Gurnee

Gurnee Mayor Kristina Kovarik and Warren Township High School are fronting an effort to raise money for a new Pearl Harbor visitors center and museum.

Schools across the country have been invited to participate in the "Pennies for Pearl Harbor" campaign. The Gurnee fundraising effort will be one of the few undertaken in Illinois since the program started about three years ago.

Kovarik and Warren's student council and social studies department have set a goal of $5,000 in donations from now until Dec. 7, the day the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor in 1941.

Uneven settling of the USS Arizona's museum and visitors center building in Hawaii, as well as water intrusion, might cause its closure within two years. Funding for a new Pearl Harbor structure is being solicited from the public and private sectors.

About 200 collection boxes will be at Warren's Almond Road campus for upperclassmen. Kovarik said she worked with a high school student to get secure collection receptacles at Gurnee gasoline stations, restaurants and convenience stores.

"The kids set the ($5,000) goal," Kovarik said Friday. "It's aggressive for spare change, but it's doable."

Retired Navy officer Nathaniel Hamilton of Gurnee met with Kovarik over the summer to bring up the idea of getting into the Pearl Harbor fundraising effort. Kovarik said a news story she read about the building's problems heightened her interest.

As part of the fundraising campaign, Hamilton's private collection of Pearl Harbor bombing memorabilia will be displayed in the Gallery room near the main entrance to Warren's Almond Road campus during school hours from Dec. 5 to 7.

Hamilton's display will be open to the public at the Almond Road building from 6 to 8 p.m. Dec. 6. Organizers hope to have some Pearl Harbor survivors at the event.

"The display will give everyone an in-depth knowledge of this conflict while recognizing the contributions of those who fought, were wounded and died so that the citizens of our country can continue to enjoy the rights and benefits we have today," Hamilton said.

"Pennies for Pearl Harbor" fundraising totals have ranged from $12,105 from Good Shepherd Day School in Punta Gorda, Fla., to $5 from Northeastern Junior and Senior High School in Fountain City, Ind.