[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 118 (Thursday, September 28, 2000)]
[House]
[Page H8411]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




      NATIONAL ALLIANCE FOR AUTISM RESEARCH SPONSORS ``WALK FAR''

  (Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Madam Speaker, autism strikes one out of every 500 
children. In Florida, 50 percent of all children and adults afflicted 
with autism reside within my congressional district. I have become very 
familiar with this disorder because my close friend, Patience Flick, 
has two children, Bonnie and Willis, with autism.
  On November 4, we will be participating in Walk FAR, Friends and 
Relatives, sponsored by the National Alliance for Autism Research. This 
first walk of its kind is being organized by the cochairs, Michelle 
Cruz and Marie Eileen Whitehurst, two south Florida mothers whose 
children have autism.
  South Florida will come together that Saturday to raise research 
funds for the National Alliance for Autism Research, which in only 4 
years has committed $3 million for 50 specific projects and fellowships 
around the world to combat this devastating disorder.
  Madam Speaker, I ask my colleagues to join me in congratulating 
Michelle and Marie Eileen, as well as Karen London, founder of the 
National Alliance for Autism Research, Dr. Michael Alessandri, director 
of the University of Miami Center for Autism and Related Disorders, and 
the hundreds of south Florida families who will join forces to begin 
the eradication of autism.

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