Iowa Workers Monument may be built in 2006

A monument to Iowa workers proposed on Labor Day of 2004 is getting closer to becoming a reality. Jerry Addy is a spokesperson for the State Public Policy Group which donated its services to help with the fundraising effort once the idea for a state worker monument started cooking last year. He says there are some 42 states that have some type of monument to their workers and some people got together and decided Iowa should have a monument. Addy says the monument will finally honor something that’s long been known — Iowa workers are the best in the nation. He says it’s kind of ironic that everybody knows about this, but he says if you try to find any studies on it, there aren’t any. He says it’s just passed on from family to family that people go to work and try to do a good job. Addy says they gotten a lot done in the last year. He says they’ve raised over $238,000 and had donated services of another $10,000. Addy says their goal is $400,000. He says they have enough money to start things rolling later this year. They’ve talked with the capitol planning commission about picking a site near the statehouse and they want to get the artist to come up with a design. Addy says if they can raise all the funds, they could get to work building the monument next year. If you’d like to contribute you can surf to www.iowaworkersmonument.com. Or you can mail a donation to “Monument to Iowa’s Workers” in care of the Iowa Workforce Development Foundation, 210th Street Des Moines, Iowa 50309. The donations are tax deductible.