1/31/2012
Penn Medicine issued a News Release yesterday on the success of the first phase of Dr. Czerniecki's Breast Cancer Vaccine trial. Here's the Headline: Four-Week Vaccination Regimen Knocks Out Early Breast Cancer Tumors, Penn Researchers Report - Majority of Patients Treated Develop Strong, Lasting Immune Responses. Results from the first phase of the trial have been published in two professional journals: online in Cancer, and in the January issue of the Journal of Immunotherapy. Click HERE to read the News Release - it's truly amazing.

1/24/2012
There's a lot happening with the new year: Dr. Czerniecki has written a State of the Research Report summarizing what has been going on with research in the last year, and the directions it is taking this year - it is full of information, including where they are in the trial now. Fundraisers already started and planned for the beginning of the year, to benefit PIA, include a six-member team running a 126.2 Ultra Marathon, and the Voorhees Red, White, and Blue Teams second Fundraiser will take place over the month of February. And our Annual Showers of Hope Event planning is in full swing. Once again, you will be able to order tickets for the event right here on the website.

11/16/2011
The CBS Evening News Report with Medical Correspondant Dr. Jon LaPook interviewing trial participant Karen Gentile and Dr. Czerniecki was wonderful. Click HERE to see the report and watch the video on cbsnews.com. With a national audience, the trial has just received tremendous exposure.

11/15/2011
CBS Evening News is airing an interview with Dr. Czerniecki tomorrow night (Wednesday Nov. 16 at 6:30 pm ET/PT, 5:30 pm CT/MT) - be sure to watch it, and spread the word to your friends and family. At 8:30 pm ET, please join us on our Breast Cancer Telebridge Call. The research is getting national exposure!

9/3/2011
In August, Uschi was honored with a Golden Heart Award at the Golden Heart Group's' 16th Annual Banquet, "Honoring Unsung Heroes". Each year the Golden Heart Group honors special members of the community who are examples of courage and going above and beyond the call of duty to help others. Uschi was honored for her work with PIA. Fellow Honorees included Congressman Robert A. Brady and Philadelphia Councilwoman Jannie L. Blackwell.

8/17/2011
The Delco Times has a nice new article on Uschi and the founding of Pennies in Action - take a look: Cancer Survivor Uschi Keszler Creates 'Pennies in Action'

7/17/2011
Two new links have been added to our Links & Articles page: National Cancer Institute, and ClinicalTrials.gov. Educate yourself about cancer, treatments, and research.

6/29/2011
Our newest video, Discovering the Cure Within, has been getting hits since we posted it on youtube just two weeks ago. This is the educational version of the video, with a scientific explanation of the vaccine research. Dr. Czerniecki, Dr. Koski, and Dr. Drebin talk about the research and its importance. CLICK HERE to watch the video, and then please share it with your friends - it is very informative.

6/23/2011
Uschi was awarded the 2011 Spirit of Excellence Award by the Friends of the Delaware County Women's Commission for her work on Pennies in Action. They give 2 awards each year - the Delaware County Employer of the Year Award, to women-run businesses, and the Spirit of Excellence Award, to a woman who inspires others - which is certainly Uschi! The award was written up in the Delco Times newspaper: read it here. Check out a couple of photos from the event on our EVENTS page.

5/8/2011
Thanks to a generous donation by the Pavlick Family, Pennies in Action is proud to present a new PIA video. This video details the personal journeys of several women who have received the vaccine developed during Dr. Brian Czerniecki's clinical trail focused on eliminating the earliest form of breast cancer, Ductal Carcinoma In Situ (DCIS). The video was premiered at the Fourth Annual Pennies in Action Showers of Hope Fundraising Auction on May 6th, 2011 in Media, PA. Please watch A Cure Within and share it with everyone you know.

5/7/2011
This year's Showers of Hope - Nurturing the Cure event was a tremendous success, thanks to a hard-working committee, wonderful volunteers, and tremendously generous donors. And it was a great party too! Stay tuned for figures on our most successful fundraising effort to date.

4/25/11
Ridley Youth Ice Hockey raised $2,700 for us at their 2nd Annual Ridley Classic Tournament. Thank you to the Middle School Teams that played to raise the money, and thank you to the organization for plans to make this an annual fundraiser for us!

4/23/11
Announcing the VIP guests for this year's May 6th Showers of Hope event:

Danny and the Juniors, recording artists of “At The Hop” and “Rock‘ N’ Roll Is Here To Stay”; The Duprees, recording artists of "You Belong to Me" and "My Own True Love"; The Dovells, recording artists of "Bristol Stomp" and "You Can't Sit Down"; and The Rip Chords, recording artists of "Hey Little Cobra". We also have QBC-TV DJ Corky Warren, Success Coach/Motivational Speaker Helena Nyman, Dr. Jeffrey A. Drebin, M.D., Ph.D., Chair of the Department of Surgery at Penn Medicine and others. Our Emcee for the evening will be sports broadcaster Lou Tilley. Dr. Brian J. Czerniecki, M.D., Ph.D., Co-Director of the Rena Rowan Breast Center, Surgical Director of the Immunotherapy Program, Abramson Cancer Center, Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, will be giving an update on his clinical trial results for cancer vaccine research. If you would like to join us for the evening, you can purchase tickets HERE.

4/15/11
Students from Voorhees Middle School held a month-long fundraiser for Pennies in Action, raising over $2,000! We are very proud to have the help of another group of young civic-minded students. Click HERE for details on how they raised so much.

4/11/2011
Our annual Showers of Hope event is coming up May 6th - check it out HERE. New this year - you can buy your tickets or make an event donation online!

1/24/2011
We have added an explanation of the vaccine research for the non-scientist to the Links page. Read it HERE.

1/11/2011
There's a new easy way to donate to Pennies in Action! Just go to any TD Bank branch, have them look up the Pennies in Action Donation account (tell them it's a Pennsylvania branch) - and have your change (or larger donation) put right into this account for us. Most TD banks have a Penny Arcade coin counter in them - this makes it easier than ever to donate your change to PIA! Click here for more information.

12/9/2010
Three years ago, this week: Uschi started collecting pennies for the Pennies in Action Fund. Happy birthday to us!

11/29/2010
Change of date for the December Breast Cancer Telebridge. New date is December 15. If you have already registered, you do not have to reregister.

11/24/2010
Uschi, Shelley, and Dr. Czerniecki made the front page of today's Philadelphia Inquirer! It's a wonderful article that covers Shelley's story, Uschi creating PIA, and Dr. Czerniecki and the research. And it's not just a short article either - it starts on the front page, and takes up over half a page further in! The article in the newspaper has 2 photographs: on the front page it's Uschi & Shelley, on the continued page it's Uschi & Shelley with Dr. Czerniecki and long-time collaborator and fellow researcher Gary Koski. Check it out on the Inquirer's website: http://tinyurl.com/InquirerFrontPageArticle. Philadelphia Marathon update: Jaime Goulet raised $2,060 for Pennies in Action with her run in this year's Marathon - thanks Jaime!

10/19/2010
We sadly announce the passing of Ursula Koldovsky, Ph. D, friend and believer in Pennies in Action and Dr.Czerniecki's research. On October 18th, Ursula lost her battle with pancreatic cancer. A long-time associate of Dr. Czerniecki, Ursula was a driving force in his Dendritic Cell research; in charge of, among other things, growing the individual vaccines used for the participants in the HER-2/neu clinical trial. She will be sorely missed, but never forgotten.

9/28/2010
Jaime Goulet is running in the Philadelphia Marathon on November 21st and is trying to raise $10,000 for Pennies in Action. She's raised over $1,000 already - check the EVENTS page for more details.
Pennies has metastasized again! Welcome to Yvonne Stuart, Director of our new Virginia Chapter of PIA.

8/23/2010
Pictures have been added to the EVENTS page from the Millville Classic Car Show and the Beautyworx "Kick Cancer in the Butt"' events. We had a lot of fun!

8/11/10
Two new events have been added to the Events page: Saturday, August 14, PIA will be at the classic car show in downtown Millville, NJ. There is going to be a live radio broadcast throughout the day, and Uschi will be taking part in that. On Sunday, we'll be in Philadelphia for a haircutting benefit being held for us. The stylists are all donating their time and services, and there's a rumor that one of the stylists is offering a $1000 match for the day's donations. Click HERE to check out both events.

8/10/10
The benefit ice show in Florida was a smashing success! They sold out the house, and the guest skaters all donated their performances to the cause. Breast cancer merchandise was donated to be sold at the benefit, as well as items being donated to be auctioned off. Take a look on the EVENTS page for more information on the guest skaters, and some pictures from the show. Check back later for an update on how much was raised. We want to thank breast cancer patient Melissa Nicholas for coming up with the idea to make the show a benefit for PIA, and to SkateZone and its skating director, Dolly Duke-Maggio.

8/2/10
Pennies in Action is in the News again! ABC25 in West Palm Beach Florida ran a story on Melissa Nicholas, who is instrumental in organizing the benefit ice show in Lake Worth on August 7th. It's a wonderful tribute to her strength and determination as a breast cancer patient. Not only is Melissa profiled, but they also talked about Pennies and the research, and they have a link to us on their website. Check out the Video of the broadcast.

7/27/10
Head over to the EVENTS page for information on a benefit ice show in Lake Worth, Florida on August 7th - it's been organized for us!

6/4/10
CBS 3 News Reporter Stephanie Stahl aired a report on today's 6pm broadcast about the vaccine research. She interviewed trial participant Karen Berner and Dr.Czerniecki. It was a great report, and the CBS 3 News site has both a video of the broadcast, and a copy of the report on their site.
Here are the links: Video of the broadcast; Report with links to the research and to us. (We are very sorry - it seems the TV station is no longer archiving the reports and videos).

5/26/2010
Uschi and Shelley Dodt (Director of the Florida Chapter of PIA) recently attended the National Breast Cancer Coalition Convention in Washington, DC. It was attended by over 800 breast cancer Advocates. See more of the story on our EVENTS page.

5/19/2010
Updates to the website: LINK to the 2010 Annual Penn Surgery Report article on Dr. Czerniecki and the research - a must read. Changes to the Shop to Donate page - it is now the Ways You Can Help page - and it's full of new information - please check it out! And most important: a new appeal for patients for the trial, with information and links for other breast cancer diagnoses. BREAST CANCER PATIENTS WANTED

4/24/2010
A wonderful evening was had by all who attended this year's event - Showers of Hope. Dr. Czerniecki gave a great update on his research, and trial particpant & breast cancer survivor Karen Berner gave a moving speech about her experience, before she and her daughters presented us with a joint donation.

4/13/2010
Update on our April 23rd Showers of Hope event - check out the EVENTS page for news on a new VIP guest and a glimpse at some of the auction items that have been donated.

4/10/2010
There's a Youth Hockey Tournament happening at IceWorks in Aston, PA today - to raise funds for Pennies. See the EVENTS page for details.

3/28/2010
On March 31st, Uschi and Shelley Dodt will be taking part in the first Breast Cancer Telebridge - discussing their experiences and Immune Therapy. More info on the EVENTS page.

3/22/10
Take a look on the EVENTS page to see pictures from our 2nd annual "Vanity for Charity" makeover evening.

3/15/10
More details on our April 23rd event: check out the list of VIP guests attending on our EVENTS page.

3/6/10
Save the date - April 23rd - for our next annual fundraising evening! More details will be available on our EVENTS page soon.

2/22/10
Pennies in Action has metastasized - just like the cancers that we seek to conquer! There is now a Florida Chapter of PIA, organized by trial participant Shelley Dodt.
Uschi had a great time at the Penn Medicine conference, and met lots of new people. And discovered that many of them knew who she was, and what Pennies in Action was as soon as she introduced herself!
Fundraising has now reached over $200,000 - on to the next $100,000 we go!

2/3/10
Trial participant Shelley Dodt asked her friends to make donations instead of giving her gifts for her birthday - thanks Shelley, and thanks to all of your friends, too!
You Tube hits on Dr. Czerniecki's interview have reached over 1,200 views!

2/1/10
Uschi has been invited to attend a Penn Medicine two day conference in Florida, featuring 'Advances at the Abramson Cancer Center'. She will be attending programs, and getting to make new contacts for Pennies in Action..

10/23/09
On October 22, we were honored to have been invited by the Philadelphia Flyers organization to set up an information table at the game. Check the EVENTS page to see how it turned out to be a personal honor for Uschi!

10/14/09
A gift shop in Port Washington, NY is having a special fundraising sale for us - we're spreading the word outside of Pennsylvania!

9/10/09
Notice a change in our logo? Pennies in Action now has our fully registered trademark.

8/29/09
September 26 FUNdraiser - check out the details on our EVENTS page - an Olde Fashioned Family Fun Day!
THE WEBSITE WORKS! A cancer patient found our website, and liked what she found out about Dr. Czerniecki's research. Even though she has already had surgery, there was cancer remaining, so she contacted Dr. Czerniecki's team to see if she might still be eligible to take part in the trial. She is now enrolled in the study. We are so excited to know that we were able to help, and to know that we are being successful in getting the word out about the research. Dr. Czerniecki has called this a victory for our website!
Check out the video interview with Dr. Czerniecki HERE.

7/6/09
The figures are in for our 'Taste of Media' Fundraiser - we raised an amazing $85,370! And the icing on the cake is that our expenses were held down to a mere $2,433 - under 3% of the total raised! Thank you to everyone who participated, helped, attended - and donated! The event raised our miles total by 101.1 miles all by itself.

6/6/09
Our 'Taste of Media' Fundraiser was wildly successful last night - details coming soon!

5/15/09
Through a generous new donation - we have a new way to make donations - by shopping! Go to the Shop to Donate page for the details.

5/4/09
We are having a fundraising event on June 5th, in the Philadelphia area. Dr. Czerniecki will be giving an important update on clinical trial results for breast cancer vaccine research. For more information, check out the EVENTS page.

4/17/09
Check out our newest fundraising helpers - a group of five 7th and 8th graders, who have already raised $858 for Pennies, and their fundraising efforts are not over yet! Check it out HERE.

4/11/09
The new clinical trial has opened, and we have information on it HERE. There are still a small number of patients needed to fill out the spots in the study. The faster the study is filled, the quicker this phase of the research can be completed and the closer we get to a cure. Contact information is on the information page.
123.4 miles of pennies raised, 1,060.6 miles to go to meet our goal - we have now raised $104,205!

3/19/09
Interested in Dr. Czerniecki's new clinincal trial? You can find all the contact information HERE - A Randomized Trial of HER-2/neu Pulsed DC1 Vaccine for Patients with DCIS.
We welcome Ashira Prossack to our Board of Directors. Ashira has been helping Uschi behind the scenes since the beginning of Pennies in Action. She was the one who came up with "Pennies in Action" when Uschi was working on a name for the Foundation. Ashira will be our International Liaison.

2/23/09
Fundraising has now reached $102,558, and there are some new initiatives being taken on our behalf to keep that figure growing. Please remember to check the EVENTS page for information.
Brad Griffies Designs will be donating $25 to us from each sale of two skating dress designs in his 2009 collection. UPDATE: Unfortunately, due to the economy, Brad has had to discontinue this line in his collection - he hopes instead to be able to dedicate a portion of one week's sales to the Pennies in Action Fund.
We have been getting responses to our Think Tank questions - check them out, and add your two cents, too!
Click here to view the Think Tank.

12/22/08
Pennies Club membership is now at 273 members.
Uschi has started a blog - check it out HERE.

12/18/08
Update on the HUP periop nurses' Thanksgiving Charity fundraiser: The "Loose Change" Pennies in Action Campaign was very successful. Click HERE to see how successful! Congratulations and Thank You to all who participated!

12/15/08
Be a part of breast cancer research - go to our new Think Tank - Your Two Cents - and give your input on the questions there. We and Dr. Czerniecki believe in 'thinking outside the box'. Please, click HERE and give us your 'two cents'!

11/14/08
Our new 1776 Mile Relay campaign to encourage Business Sponsors has now been officially launched. Click HERE to see how you can help us with this new initiative.
We have another volunteer collection effort going on: the periop nurses at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania have adopted us for their Thanksgiving charity project. We appreciate the wonderful, unsolicited fundraising help! More details are on our EVENTS page.

11/2/08
We have broken the $100,000 barrier. Our goal had been to reach and pass $100,000 by the end of October. By October 29, two days early, we were over the $100,000 milestone. Now, on to the next milestone. We moved over 5 miles closer to the goal in October alone!
Final figures are in for Katie's community service project - click HERE to see how much she raised! Thank you and congratulations to Katie!!!
Resonant Medical is our first Mile Club Sponsor.

10/26/08
Report from the 2nd week of Katie's community service project: $94.01 raised! See the figures HERE.
Our Advisory Council is now listed on the About Pennies in Action page.

10/21/08
Funds raised is now $96,519 = 114.3 miles. That's one more mile closer to our goal. Just a little over 4 more miles of pennies ($3,481) will get us to our first 'milestone' - $100,000!
Membership in the Penny a Day Club is now up to 267.

10/20/08
Report from the 1st week of Katie's community service project: $63.26 raised! See the figures HERE.

10/18/08
A local 7th grader has organized a school-wide community service project to raise funds for Pennies - check out her letter to her schoolmates. We are very excited by the initiative this young woman has taken, and we thank her very much!

Our Board of Directors and Honorary Board are now listed on the About Pennies in Action page.

10/1/08
October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month - help us raise the funds for finding a way to stop cancer in its tracks - make a donation to the fund, or join the Penny a Day Club.
We have passed the $95,000 mark - let's break the $100,000 barrier this month!
Join the 232 members of the Penny a Day Club now!

9/22/08
Lots going on!
Dr. Czerniecki is heading one the Dream Teams applying for funding from the more than $100 million raised by Stand Up To Cancer. He has requested that everyone write to the funding committee, asking them to support breast cancer immunology research. The more people that write - the better chance the Dream Team has of receiving the funding. Please help! You can contact the committee at SU2C@aacr.org. You can also read the Dream Team proposal HERE. Thank you to everyone who wrote to the funding committee!
A doctor who has worked with Dr. Czerniecki on the first clinical trial of his vaccine has written about that for us - please click HERE to read.
Uschi is headed to Boston to speak at the Resonant Medical program tonight.
Penny a Day Club now has 227 members.
Pennies in Action is now trademarked.

9/9/08
Funds raised is now $94,182 = 111.5 miles of pennies, and membership in the Penny a Day Club is 211.

9/4/08
Uschi has been invited to speak at a program for top cancer specialists! She has been asked to tell her story, and the story of Pennies in Action. For more information, check the events page.
Membership in the Penny a Day Club is now over 200 - there are now 207 members!

8/26/08
Be a part of our new Link Exchange - for information, and to put a Pennies in Action banner link on your website or blog, please click HERE.
Funds raised is now at $93,617 - that is almost 111 miles of pennies.
We now have 175 members in the Penny a Day Club.

8/14/08
The Penny a Day Club is growing - there are now more than 145 members from 10 nations.
If you would like to have a banner link to Pennies in Action please click HERE - there is a variety of banners and buttons available.

8/7/08
The Penny a Day Club has passed the 100 member mark in less than a week!

8/5/08
Links to articles on Dr. Czerniecki's research have been added to Current Project and Links pages
The Penny a Day Club has grown to 55 members in less than a week!

8/1/08
Check out our new Events page, and our new initiative - the Penny a Day Club.
We are also planning a Blog with personal stories from breast cancer survivors. If you are a survivor who would like to share your story, or if you know a survivor who would like to share their story - please send us an email at contact@penniesinaction.org