The Atlanta show will feature check presentations from

corporate sponsors and local organizations, interviews with

families and individuals served by MDA, and informative vignettes

about MDA services and research.

Hundreds of volunteers are needed throughout the

weekend to answer phones, stuff envelopes, assist with registration

and many other jobs. Anyone interested in volunteering

should contact MDA at 770-621-9800.

MDA is a national non-profit health agency dedicated

to finding treatments and cures for forty neuromuscular diseases. It

is supported almost entirely by individual, private

contributors, and does not receive any government funding.

The National Geographic Society is marking the

new millennium with a gift to America's children: every

school in the United States will receive a 4 ft. by 6 ft. laminated

updated map of the world.

Each of the nation's more than 100,000 schools will receive

the two-sided map this month. One side shows the political world

as of June 1998; the other is a digital picture of the physical

world based on images collected by satellite.

"In the closing decade of this century, entire countries

have come or gone, boundaries have shifted and place names

have changed," said National Geographic president John

Fahey. "What better way to start the new millennium than to make

sure every one of our nation's schools is on the same map?"

The map also celebrates the 10th anniversary of the

National Geographic Society Education Foundation, a fund dedicated

to improving the geographic knowledge of America's students.

<!--##############