Advocacy Alert: 05/17/2005

Last week we invited CFIDS advocates to take part in the CFIDS Association's first-ever Virtual Lobby Day. Since launching this on-line event, 2,516 messages to lawmakers and media professionals have been generated through our Grassroots Action Center. Our Virtual Lobby Day activities amplified the messages delivered by 58 CFIDS advocates who conducted nearly 80 meetings on Capitol Hill, marking the Association's 13th Lobby Day and May 12 as International CFIDS Awareness Day.

If you haven't yet taken part in the Virtual Lobby Day, please do so now! There are four separate actions targeting Congress, the Secretary of Health and the media -- do as many of them as you'd like. We've updated the letter templates to reflect the fact that May 12 is now behind us and we left room for you to share information about how CFIDS has affected you.

Start by writing your own members of Congress; just click on http://capwiz.com/cfids/issues/alert/?alertid=7561096&type=CO, enter your ZIP code and you're ready to lobby! Return to http://capwiz.com/cfids/home/ to write to leaders of the health funding committee in Congress, Secretary Leavitt and your local media.

We'd also like to share Lobby Day advocate Janet Helin's perspective on CFIDS advocacy. She has posted an essay about it at http://www.livejournal.com/users/crickster92/810.html. We extend sincere thanks to Janet and the other 57 participants for their efforts to educate Congress about CFIDS and the need for increased research funding and attention.

Thank you for participating in CFIDS advocacy and for helping raise awareness.

Warm regards,

Kim McCleary
President & CEO
The CFIDS Association of America