A local fourth grader is being honored for raising more than $5,000 to stop heart disease.


Jessica Gates has been raising money for the American Heart Association since she was in kindergarten.


This year alone she raked in $3,100, her highest amount yet.


She was one of dozens Chenango Valley students who have spent the past month fundraising and studying the heart.


Gates says there's a special reason she's so passionate about this cause.


"My Grampie, he had heart surgery and he could have died and to help other people who have heart problems," says Gates.


P.E. Teacher Kevin Novotny says, "It's important to start kids at a young age so they can develop those habits when they're young and we also teach them not only to have those habits for themselves but they can share the information with their parents at home. It doesn't end at school. It goes from school straight to the home."


Students at Chenango Bridge Elementary celebrated their fundraising efforts Thursday with a jump rope for heart party.