it is that time of year when most people begin to think of valentines
and and the coming of spring. well, it's time for me to announce the
plans for our "SHAKE, RATTLE & ROLL" weekend in Peoria, IL. I'm going to
do things just a bit differently, to save some money on postage, so when
you read this post and deciede to come to the event, please email me at
<[log in to unmask]> with your snail mail address and at that time, i
will be happy to send you out the materials you need.
     our second annual parkie weekend will be held on the 28th and the
29th of june, 2003.
     on saturday morning, we are thinking about another "Patients as
Providers" symposium. if you are interested in attending this, please
let me know asap so that i can tell nan & bren if the interest is there.
this is the only part of the weekend that is not set in stone.
     on the saturday afternoon, we will be having a parkie-picnic. let's
hope that with the later dates, we get a great weekend weather-wise so
that we can make it a real picnic. it is my plan to order sandwiches
from a local restaurant ( i hope to get them donated), order potato
salad from another (donated also), order some cole slaw  and a cake from
a local caterer; we will also provide iced tea or lemondaid, plates,
cups, plastic silverware and all the condiments that we will need for
our sandwiches. if you are driving and would like to bring a few lawn
chairs, that would be great. otherwise, bring a dish to share and
whatever your alchoholic
beverage of choice is....and a bathing suit if you are so inclined.
there will be fishing poles available so set your sights on a
wonderfully, relaxing afternoon.
    for those of you who would like to attend Mass with us at St.
Edward's Catholic Church, we will deciede at a later date wether to go
on saturday evening or at  8AM on sunday morning. I'd like to invite you
all to come to church with us-no matter what your preference is-Father
Joe is a wonderful priest and he will have a special blessing for all
parkies.
   then on sunday, we need to get down Le Vioux Carre as early as
possible to help set up for the walk. we will be decorating, setting up
acution and food tables, registration tables, welcome tables, and have
everything ready for our noon start. at noon, we will hear from speakers
as folks get their final registrations in and enjoy some of the
wonderful food that is provided to all participants. each participant
will also get a t-shirt and a SHAKE, RATTLE & ROLL pin and anything else
that we can arrange in the area of freebies.
 in the parking lot across the street, we will have a dunk tank, a
balloon magician, and facepainting for the kids. registration is $20.00
per person either in a donation from that person or made up of collected
donations. when you request a info packet in the mail. upi will recieve
a donation envelope. this is for your fee and any other people who you
know who cannot come to peoria but would like to sponsor you in your
walk. we wikk have prizes for the folks who bring in the most sponsor
donations and in other categories; such as largest group, person who
traveled the farthest to be with us. we will also be holding a silent
auction on a number of various, wonderful items. At around one o'clock
in the afternoon, Dr. Rick Weber will once again lead the call to walk a
short, easy mile along the beautiful peoria waterfront. upon arriving
back at the bautiful, new orleans style building, we will provide you
with jazz music which was a real hit last year and we can begin to pass
out prizes.
    let me tell you this-it is our goal this year to earn $50,000. this
is very do-able, but i will need all of your help in attaining this
goal. last year, with just holly and myself doing the work, we were able
to raise $15,000. it was also the first year for us to do a walk and
also our first year switching it to peoria. This year is going to be
much better organized and publicized. We are going to try to have the
lion's share of this amount alreay in corporate donors but anyrhing you
could or would do ahead of time to raise money will be greatly appreciated.
    Last year, we raised $15,000: 2/3 of that money was given to the
Parkinson Alliance to be matched by the Tuchman Foundation to cover all
the operating expenses and then it was used to fund pilot study programs
so that they can apply for grants from the NIH to carry on much neeeded
research. we also were able to give $2,000 to PLWP and $2,000 to Dr.
Rick Weber's research which is carried on right here in central illinois
at the University of Illinois College of Medicine. tomorrow he is using
some of that money to bring in a highly regarded pd specialist to speak
to a group of nuerologists and surgeons and a few of us pwp's. it is our
hope that Dr. Weber will be able to form a collaborarion with this
doctor to help in his research.
   rooms are available at the super 8 motel which is right down the
street from my house and is generally a meeting place for margarita's
and such in the lobby. my friend tim is offering us rooms as follows:
rooms with one king-size bed is $47.00 plus tax
rooms with two double beds are $54.00 plus tax
for more info, call tim or peggy at 309-274-2568 and be sure to tell
that you are coming in for my event.
there  are also rooms available at the AmericInn which is also managed
by a friend of mine, if you would like grander accomodations with the
comforts of a pool, whirlpool and a work-out room. if these rooms
interest you, please call Jan at 309-692-9200.
      it is my fond desire to make this the biggest and best event of my
career. please come and help. thank you so very much,    joan

--
Joan E. Blessington Snyder       50/11
http://www.pwnkle.com/jes/jes_web/index.htm
<[log in to unmask]>
"Hang tough...........no way through it but to do it."
Chris-in-the-Morning   (Northern Exposure)

----------------------------------------------------------------------
To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask]
In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn