DATE: Saturday, November 29, 1997           TAG: 9711290252

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B2   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: Staff writers Pam Starr and Matt Bowers contributed to this

        report.

                                            LENGTH:   88 lines

HAMPTON ROADS

VIRGINIA BEACH

AARP forum to talk

about health care,

consumer protection

Electric utility restructuring, managed health care and long-term health care will be discussed Dec. 6 at a community forum hosted by the American Association of Retired Persons.

A representative of Virginia Power will participate in the discussion on electric utility deregulation. Other speakers will talk about the need to improve consumer protections in managed care and long-term care.

The program will include a review of the AARP Virginia 1998 legislative program and suggestions on how members can support it.

Gordon Morton, AARP Virginia district coordinator, said the forum is for anyone who is concerned with these issues. ``This forum gives us an opportunity to engage local AARP members in the legislative process and to provide education on the issues of concern to older Virginians,'' he said.

The forum will be held from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at Bayside Presbyterian Church, 1400 Ewell Road. Registration begins at 9:30 a.m. with refreshments. To register or for more information, call Morton at 420-1788. NORFOLK

Free long-distance phone

calls offered to seniors

On Dec. 13, Merrill Lynch will open its downtown Norfolk office to older citizens who cannot afford to make telephone calls to friends and family members during the holidays.

From 9 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., persons 60 and older may place up to one hour of long-distance phone calls to anywhere in the world.

Senior Services of Southeastern Virginia, a Hampton Roads United Way agency, must be contacted to reserve a time. Register by Wednesday by calling Todd Hambric between noon and 4 p.m. at 461-9481.

Free parking will be provided in the parking garage adjacent to the office, at 999 Waterside Drive, Suite 1100.

Senior Services also may assist in coordinating limited transportation for persons without other means to get to Merrill Lynch.

Youth will be topic

of World AIDS Day

Youth will be the topic Monday for the annual World AIDS Day commemoration at Norfolk State University.

A public awareness program will run from 7 to 9 p.m. in the G.W.C. Brown Memorial Hall. Louise White, director of the leadership in health policy program for the National Association for Equal Opportunity in Higher Education, will speak on the topic, ``AIDS and Our Youth.''

NSU's HIV/AIDS Task Force will donate funds it has raised to CANDII House - Children's AIDS Network for Interfaith Involvement - a nonprofit hospice and service provider for children with AIDS and their families.

For more information, call 683-2274.

$1 parking special to be

offered for boat parade

The City of Norfolk Parking Division will offer the $1 ``Early Bird Special'' today to drivers who arrive early for the Lighted Boat Parade.

The $1 special rate will be available from 2 to 4 p.m. and will apply only to the Waterside, Town Point and City Hall Avenue parking garages and the Town Point Lot. This rate does not apply to the Main Street Garage.

The special rate offered during last weekend's Grand Illumination Parade was a success, according to Linda Davis of the Norfolk Division of Parking.

More than 1,000 vehicles arrived early and eased the traffic flow into downtown Norfolk. REGION

Local food drives surpass

goal to feed the hungry

Generosity was plentiful in Hampton Roads when it came to feeding the hungry this Thanksgiving.

WAFX's 52-hour Mayflower Marathon collected more than 21 tons of food and personal care items for the Foodbank of Southeastern Virginia. The station's original goal was 3 tons.

The 9th annual Scouting for Food Drive Nov. 22, sponsored in part by the Tidewater Council of Boy Scouts of America, collected more than 60,000 pounds of non-perishable food items for the needy, representing a 64 percent increase over the amount collected last year.

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