Employing Printers Education Trust Provides Large Endowment to the Print and Graphic Scholarship Foundation

SEWICKLEY, PA—March 5, 2007—Employing Printers Education Trust (EPET) has given over $650,000 to the Print and Graphics Scholarship Foundation (PGSF). The Trustees, under Chairman Charles Pecher of Skinner & Kennedy Company, have directed PGSF to establish educational scholarships following the tradition started by EPET in the 1960s. The funds will be used to build an endowment in the name of the Education Trust. This large endowment will be used to provide a number of scholarships at the highest “Gutenberg level” of $5,000, or more, annually.

“In this day of technological explosions, the only advantage any employer has is an educated and committed work force,” said EPET Advisor Brian W. Gill. “Tomorrow’s leading firms will be those that have so embraced change that their very culture attracts and retains well-trained, highly-educated individuals committed on an on-going basis to life-long learning. Those contributors within the industry who have supported the Employing Printers Education Trust with their contributions recognize that the ability to attract the best and the brightest is, in large part, a function of supplying those educational opportunities. The Employing Printers Education Trust feels blessed to help supply the wherewithal, now at PGSF, to make this possible.”

“We are highly honored at PGSF to have been selected by the EPET Trustees to receive this sizable endowment,” Says Ted Ringman, VP of Development at PGSF. “Currently, over 240 students at 100 colleges are receiving financial assistance through PGSF. Yet we have to turn down several thousand deserving applicants each year. The addition of over $650,000 will help build the number of ‘Gutenberg Level’ $5,000 annual scholarships. With tuition rising at 11% a year, it is increasingly important to provide scholarships at the highest level. For the future of our industry, companies and individuals must do more to fund education and training.”

For information regarding tax-deductible contributions, establishing a scholarship or about PGSF, the largest national independent scholarship effort for the graphic arts industry, please contact Ted Ringman at 847-382-9103 or jtring1988@aol.com.

About PIA/GATF
PIA/GATF is the world’s largest graphic arts trade association representing an industry with more than 1.2 million employees. It serves the interests of more than 12,000 member companies. PIA/GATF, along with its affiliates, delivers products and services that enhance the growth, efficiency and profitability of its members and the industry through advocacy, education, research and technical information.