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Good thinking, Mary Sheehan, but let's not reinvent the wheel. There already IS a Worldwide Parkinson's Awareness Day - 11th April, James Parkinson's birthday, which was accepted this year by the vast majority of PD support groups round the world. So I'ld like to grab your idea and help you make it happen - on April 11th 1998. >Ivan's message was inspirational. I strongly agree that we have to put a >face on PD. ... >My suggestion: Designate a day in January as "International PD Awareness >Day". Send an announcement to your local newspaper mentioning the day and >telling a bit about PD. On that day, each and everyone of us sends a >donation (of any amount) to a PD organization of our choice or to a trust we >set up to receive funds. When enough time has passed, we calculate the money >received and send press releases to all media ( with lots of pictures of > PWP's), saying something like, "PWP's are tired of being forgotten. This is >what we look like. Help us find a cure". This is just a quick thought that >needs discussion, but I thought it might be another way we could go. BTW I >saw great poster at the Parkinson Institute this week. It was a bar scene >with lots of cheerful looking people sitting around, conversing or laughing. >The caption said, " How many of these people have PD? At the bottom it said, >"All of them". I wonder if that was the photograph taken at the first EuroYAPmeet (the conference for young-onset PWP) in Peterborough, UK, three (?) years ago. It was an amazing and wonderful weekend, with the slogan "To HELL with Parkinson's". -- Jeremy Browne - [log in to unmask] Hampshire, UK