State Income Tax Check-Off for Breast Cancer Research Featured

(Greensburg, PA) Pat Halpin-Murphy, President and Founder of the Pennsylvania Breast Cancer Coalition (PBCC), announced a press conference to raise public awareness about the Income Tax Check-Off for Breast and Cervical Cancer Research. The press conference will be held on Tuesday, February 17, 2004 at 11:00am at the Mountain View Inn, 1001 Village Drive in Greensburg. The public is invited to attend and refreshments will be served.

The program will feature the following speakers:

• Pat Halpin-Murphy, PBCC President and Founder
• Bonnie Harr, Chief Operations Officer, Aestique Medical Center & Medical Day Spa; PBCC Westmoreland County Captain
• Rep. Jess Stairs, PA House of Representatives, Chairman of the House Education Committee
• Maria Soohey, Esquire, General Counsel/Chief Financial Officer, Aestique Medical Center
• Martha Rhodes, breast cancer survivor
• Cheryl McMullen, Westmoreland Walks Co-Chair

The Breast and Cervical Cancer Research Fund, landmark legislation initiated by the PBCC in 1997, allows Pennsylvania taxpayers to donate all or part of their state tax refund to breast and cervical cancer research. All of the money raised goes to cancer researchers, hospitals and universities in Pennsylvania. The average tax refund donation is $8.00 and to date, over $1.2 million has been raised.

PBCC President and Founder Pat Halpin-Murphy, a breast cancer survivor, said, "Every single penny of the money raised is awarded to researchers across the state. The PBCC is a force for women and their families and the incredible success of this simple and effective way to raise research dollars renews our commitment to find a cure for breast cancer now…so our daughters won't have to."

Halpin-Murphy chairs the Pennsylvania Department of Health's Cancer Advisory Board's Income Tax Check-Off Committee, which recommends how the refund donations should be awarded to researchers.

Bonnie Harr, COO of Aestique Medical Center, said, “Here in Westmoreland County, we are increasingly learning about the very fine work of the PBCC. This Check-Off event is one way every concerned citizen can put an action to their caring as well. As the PBCC’s Captain of this county, I invite folks everywhere to check it out by checking it off on the state income tax form! ”

The PBCC, founded in 1993, is a non-profit organization dedicated to ending the breast cancer epidemic through research, education, outreach and advocacy. As the only statewide grassroots organization that speaks to and for breast cancer survivors, the PBCC insured the passage of several crucial pieces of Commonwealth legislation:
          - The Breast and Cervical Cancer Research Act, which allows taxpayers to donate all or part of their state income tax refunds to breast and cervical cancer research; and
          - The Breast Cancer Reconstructive Surgery Act, which mandates insurance coverage for post- mastectomy breast reconstruction and prohibits outpatient mastectomies.

The PBCC serves each of the Commonwealth's 67 counties through the Income Tax Check-Off, Mother's Day Mammograms®, the Keystone Breast Cancer Conference, and the photo exhibit, "67 Women, 67 Counties: Facing Breast Cancer in Pennsylvania.” For more information about the PBCC visit our website at www.pabreastcancer.org or call 717/738-9567 or toll free 1-800-377-8828.