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Yesterday a group of us went to meet with our local congressman, Bob CLement, to give him information about PD and ask him to co-sponsor the Udall bill (HR 1462). I'm pleased to report that at the end of the meeting he agreed to sign on as a co-sponsor. He also offered to write a letter to the rest of the representatives from Tennessee encouraging them to also become co-sponsors. This was a great morale booster for those of us who met with Rep Clement and for our local support group. I encourage others of you to also meet with your Congresspersons. We started with a Democrat, thinking that would be easiest, and now with this success we have the confidence to approach the Republicans who have been slower to support the bill. I want to thank the Parkinson's Action Network and others of you who provided handouts and other information for our meeting. The graphs showing the funding of PD in comparison to other disorders were great -- Rep Clement was shocked at the disparity. I have collected a set of overheads (some borrowed from PAN and from other individuals, some made by me) that I used in a presentation to our local support group. They describe PD, current funding, the Udall bill, and tips for writing a letter to congress. We used these in a meeting of our support group last month. We brought writing paper to the meeting and spent the last half of the meeting writing letters to our congressmen. I would be glad to send copies of these materials to anyone who could use them. I have been told that it is better to write a personal letter to congress rather than signing a form letter. However, many members of our group find it difficult to write because of their disability. If any of you plan to do a letter-writing campaign for the Udall bill, I suggest providing a form letter for those who are unable to write, and include a statement in the form letter saying it is being used because PD makes it difficult to write. To those who are feeling shy about calling your congressperson -- it was amazingly easy once I made the call. Try it and see. Good luck! Lynn Walker Nashville, TN