THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, February 8, 1997 TAG: 9702080352
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B2 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DEBRA GORDON, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 39 lines
Christine O'Donnell has been waiting eight years for today.
Eight years ago, O'Donnell gathered 2,000 votes to win election to the National Silver-Haired Congress, a nonpartisan congressionally-authorized group promoting issues important to older Americans.
Today, the congress begins meeting in Washington.
With Social Security and Medicare issues taking center stage in the halls of the real Congress, O'Donnell is optimistic that this mock legislature will have an impact.
``I think it's very important, and that we can work for the seniors to try and improve their way of life,'' said O'Donnell, who gives her age as ``mid-seventies'' and who serves on the Virginia Beach Task Force on Aging.
The Congress includes 100 senior senators and 435 senior representatives who have been elected by voters older than 60. O'Donnell heads the 13-member Virginia delegation, which includes Chesapeake resident Saba C. Venetidy, 79.
Keynote speakers at the Congress, which runs through Feb. 14, include Martha McSteen, president of the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare, Bell Bensen, deputy assistant secretary for aging, and Newt Gingrich, speaker of the House.
With no funding allocated for the event, O'Donnell has spent the past several months begging for money to help pay for her trip.
Despite several small donations, she is still contributing $800 of her own money toward the week in Washington.
It's worth it, she says.
``I think it can be very effective with seniors coming from all over the country.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo
Beach resident Christine O'Donnell is in Washington today as part of
the Virginia delegation to the Silver-Haired Congress. She was
elected to the post eight years ago.