ICEWORKS a global melting pot for skaters...

It has been really exciting what has happened at our rink. Since Olympic Champions Natalia Linichuk and Gennadiy Karponosov are teaching here, we are having people train with us from all over the world. It is so interesting to watch the preparation for Olympics having Tanith and Ben, and Oksana and Maxim training on the same ice …
Right now we have Skaters and coaches from:
America, Canada, China, Korea, Switzerland, Ukraine, Russia, Japan, Slovenia , Israel, France, Germany and others are scheduled to come.
For the next two weeks we have a huge hockey tournament with participants from:
America, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Canada, Italy, Denmark and Ukraine
And middle of July we have the “Liberty Competition” which is one of the largest figure skating competitions in the world( last year we had 1800 starts!!!)
It is so rewarding for me to see all the friendships that are being started. I benefited from my international skating experiences with having made friends for a life time.
Great skating, great friendships and lots of fun…
Truly a dream come true!!!

Endless flow and the beauty of skating...

It is so wonderful to be involved again in creating beautiful skating.
We have skaters again at the rink who are willing to go beyond the rules and create endless flow.
It is very simple but not easy…
One has to except that the body is the tool and that space is my creation.
When I sit in the snack bar and look out the window , the movement of the skaters has to look as if they are in water. And I have to see a continuous effect on space through their movement.
Through gliding movement and motion we have the opportunity to create the illusion as if gravity is non existent. When a skater achieves that it gives the spectator goose bumps while watching.
As my dad always said:
*Everybody feels emotions
*Some can move their emotions
*Seldom can someone evoke emotions in others through their movement…
That is where it is and always has been at for me to be in love with skating...!!!

I need every bodies help...

Many people are willing to donate small amounts to Pennies in Action. The big problem is collecting the donations.
We have pay pal on the web-site www.penniesinaction.org.
The fee for each donation is so high that the small donation gets eaten up by the fee.
We could pay a % at the end of the month or quarter then it would be a win - win situation.
The way it is now we both loose.
Does anyone have an idea how we could collect pennies and up and have the benefit for the charity to eradicate the fear of cancer thru a vaccine.
Please put your thinking cap on and help me…

We all need to take action and help...

I went today to the viewing of the wife of one of our employees at ICEWORKS.
She died of pancreatic cancer.
It is so sad and so difficult to accept, when the answer for a cure is there and it is only held back by financing.
Dr. Czerniecki’s breast cancer vaccine research will also be applicable to other cancers.
My grand mother died of TB many years ago. I myself had TB and was lucky that at the time I contracted it they had the answer. Cancer cure is where TB cure was when I contracted TB It was a few years away and I lucked out to be on the cusp of it,
I beg you let all of us get together and help to finance the research. This suffering and dying has to stop!!!

Who would not give 10 cents for a cure...?????

Our wealth is not determined by how much money we have but how great our network of people is.
Especially in todays life of the internet and global communication it changes the way we do things.
We can reach millions of people instantaneously by the click of a mouse.
Fighting cancer is down to financing the research. They have the knowledge but they need to prove it and that needs financing.
It is horrible to watch people suffer with this dreadful disease, when we could solve it with money.
If we ALL give a little we will win this race. If everyone in the United States would donate only10 cents we would have 36 million Dollars. It would pay for the trials needed to complete the breast cancer vaccine and pay for an imuno therapy center.
Just imagine the joy and accomplishment we would feel having ALL taken part in this great win. The only problem I have with Pennies in Action is to collect the coins. Paypal cannot be used in its current form for such small donations.
Where there is a will there is a way…
Please help!!!!

New found Hope for my friend....

I have met many wonderful people thru my fundraising efforts. I am raising funds and awareness for breast cancer vaccine research headed by Dr. Brian Czerniecki at the University of Pennsylvania.
I always have a table up at our rink ( IceWorks) which gives info on the cause. You can get more info at
www.penniesinaction.org
Well 6 months ago a gentleman came to my table put some change in my container and said:
“thank you so much for what you are doing for the cause I am also working at Penn”
I met him again a month ago since his son plays hockey at our rink. We talked and it turned out he is the head radiation oncologist for head and neck cancer at Penn. He gave me a tour of the new Proton Unit at Penn which is unbelievable.
2 weeks ago I got a call from a friend of mine who is suffering with 2 types of cancer and the treatment he received is not helping. I talked to Dr. Quon and subsequently his family talked to him and it turned out this is his special field of treatment.
To make a long story short He met with him Monday and Dr. Quon gave 3hours !!! of his time examining and putting a team together for his treatment. You could see how my friend gained strength during the appointment by seeing the care and effort for him.
He walked out of the hospital with new found hope and so did his family.
With Dr. Czerniecki and Dr. Quon I have found 2 doctors on the top of their field that are extremely caring about the lives of their patients. Thank you on behalf of all your patients….
Please keep my friend in your prayers…..

It is a miracle...

Today our skater from ICEWORKS, who was badly injured in the car accident, walked into the rink ½ hour ago. He looks great. He has been cleared by the orthopedic surgeon today. Hopefully the neurologist will do the same next week.
It is so awesome to see him looking that good so soon. A real miracle…

"The Taste of Media" breast cancer vaccine FUNdraiser...

Wow what an awesome event.
We had 300+ people show up for our “Taste of Media“ event to raise funds and awareness for breast cancer vaccine research, headed by Dr. Brian Czerniecki of the University of Pennsylvania hospital.
He updated us on his progress of his research. It was very promising and we will have an update on www.penniesinaction.org in the near future, (after he has published his findings)...
The event started at 7pm, Dr. Czerniecki spoke at 8:30, then we had a live auction and a silent auction and then the party kept going till the last guest left at 2:30 am.
It was so much fun, so informative and full of hope.
We raised $70 000.00+ last night for the cause and monies are still coming in. If you want to donate to the cause you can do that online at www.penniesinaction.org and click on the donate button.
I was so fortunate to have a wonderful committee of 25 people who were amazing.
Tanith Belbin and Ben Agosto 2006 Olympic siver medalists served as the honorary chairpersons, with their coaches Olympic Champions Natalia Linichuk and Gennardiy Kaparosov by their side.
Pictures to follow…

Our skater from ICEWORKS update...

I just got an e-mail from his mom. He is doing much better and after a doctor’s appointment will come by the rink on Tuesday. Hurrah… Thanks for keeping him in your prayer!!!!