Katie's Community Service Project
A local 7th grader has taken on a school-wide project raising funds for Pennies and Dr. Czerniecki's research. This is the letter she sent out to the students in her school.

click here for updates from Katie

Hi.  My name is Katie and I am in 7th grade here at The Walden School.  A lot of you know that a good part of my life revolves around figure skating.  I practice figure skating at an ice rink in Aston called IceWorks.

I get to meet a lot of people while I am skating.  One of the people I have met at IceWorks is a lady named Uschi Keszler.  She is an Olympic coach, athlete and breast cancer survivor. Breast cancer is more common in women but can also affect men.  It is a disease where cells in your body begin to grow rapidly and out of control.  The cancer can then spread throughout your body.  If left untreated it can make you very sick. 

Uschi has started an organization called Pennies in Action.  This organization collects pennies to help fund research for a breast cancer vaccine.  A vaccine is a medication that prevents a disease from occurring.  Vaccines take a lot of time and money to develop.  Hopefully if the right vaccine is made it could help prevent people from getting breast cancer.  

Cancer can strike anyone, anytime.  Many celebrities have battled or are battling breast cancer.  Some of those celebrities are:  Singer, Sheryl Crowe; Olympian Figure Skaters Dorothy Hamill and Peggy Fleming; Olympic Track and Field athlete, Jackie Joyner Kersee; and wife of President Gerald Ford, Betty Ford.  These are just a few.  There are many, many others; you may even know someone not so famous battling breast cancer.  

I believe in helping people who are in need.  I am joining the fight against breast cancer with Uschi in the hope of wiping out breast cancer.  I am asking for you to join us as well.  

I will be placing containers in each classroom with pink ribbons on them.  I am asking you to join me in placing your spare change in the containers.  Even though this is for a campaign called "Pennies in Action", I will gladly accept nickels, dimes, quarters or even dollars to put toward this goal of wiping out cancer.   

This campaign will only last during the month of October.  I would love to make a fun, friendly competition out of the fund raiser.  I will collect the containers at the end of each week on Friday and whichever room has collected the most change for that week will receive a special treat on Monday to say thank you.  I will also keep a chart in the main hallway so that you will be able to see for yourself the progress that everyone working together can make.  A little teamwork can make a big difference as you will see.  At the end of the collection and when the pennies are all counted, the room with the most money raised will be given an ice cream sundae party courtesy of my parents (yes, I did ask)!!!  

I thank you for allowing me to present this worthwhile cause to you and hope you will join me in the fight against breast cancer.

The school allowed Katie to start collecting the week of October 12th. Fundraising will end on October 31st.

1st week update from Katie:
Grades 3 & 4   $1.77
Grades 5 & 6   $22.23
Grades 7 & 8   $39.26
So far they have collected enough "pennies" to
reach 4,744 inches
reach 395 feet (6 feet short of the distance from home plate to the center field wall at the Phillies Citizens                                     Bank Park Field, which is 401 feet)
reach 132 yards (longer than the Eagles football field...100 yards)

2nd week update from Katie:
Grades 3 & 4  $11.09
Grades 5 & 6  $5.81
Grades 7 & 8  $13.85

Week 1               Week 2               Total So Far
4,744 inches       2,306 inches       7050 inches
395 feet              192 feet               587 feet
132 yards            64 yards             196 yards

$94.01 has been collected so far

3rd and final week update from Katie:
Grades 3 & 4  $65.17
Grades 5 & 6  $22.33
Grades 7 & 8  $14.76

Week 1               Week 2               Week 3              
4,744 inches       2,306 inches       7670 inches
395 feet              192 feet               639 feet
132 yards            64 yards             213 yards

Final Totals:
14,720 inches  (nearly as tall as the Empire State Building)
1227 feet         (almost a quarter mile...93 feet short of a quarter mile)
409 yards         (longer than 4 football fields)  

19,627 pennies collected
A total of $196.27 was collected for the project

This became an ongoing project for Katie - she has raised over $700 so far!