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As many of you have already heard, Muhammad Ali will be coming to Washington, DC, on April 23, 1997 to appear before the House Appropriations committee on behalf of the National Parkinson Foundation to urge congress to appropriate more funding for Parkinson's disease research. It is my understanding that Jim Cordy is organizing a program to get as many Parkinson's activists to come to DC to lobby congress on the 21st and 22nd of April playing on the attention that Muhammad will be giving our Parkinson's cause. This is a terrific idea and may be the best time to come to DC since the Udall bill will have been introduced only two weeks earlier. I would like to add my suport to this concept and urge as many of you as possible to participate. That evening (April 23rd) the Capital Chapter of the National Parkinson Foundation will be hosting a reception honoring Muhammad for his support for our cause. The event is being chaired by The Honorable Joe McDade, a senior member of the House Appropriations Commitee who suffers from Parkinson's disease and who is one of our most staunchest supporters. We are also honored to have as our special guest, The Honorable John McCain, who has agreed to be the lead sponsor of the Udall Bill in this Congress. Senator McCain is committed to fight with us to seen the Udall bill enacted! We are very lucky indeed to have Senator McCain as our champion...and owe a great deal of thanks to Bob Dolazal for his encouragement of Senator McCain. For those of you who will be attending the April 9th introduction Press conference we can talk more then. I would like to invite all of you to attend the Ali reception on the 23rd and thank Muhammad personally for his inspiration and encouragement. This is a fundraising event to raise money for Parkinson's research. Tickets are $100 each and can be purchased from the Capital Chapter of the National Parkinson Foundation by sending a check to: Capital Chapter of the National Parkinson Foundation 1250 24th Street, NW, Suite 300 Washington, DC 20037 (202) 466-0550 Peter Morabito, DDS (Chairman) Lawrence S. Hoffheimer (President)