BOY POET MEETS PRESIDENT
MOST MEMORABLE GMA MOMENT

TUCSON, Ariz., Nov. 3, 2005 — The surprise meeting in December 2001 between former President Jimmy Carter and the late Mattie J.T. Stepanek has been voted by TV viewers as the most memorable moment in the 30-year history of the ABC morning show "Good Morning America."

Best-selling poet, peacemaker and former Muscular Dystrophy Association National Goodwill Ambassador Mattie Stepanek died in June 2004, just shy of his 14th birthday, from the effects of the muscle disease mitochondrial myopathy. His six books of "Heartsongs" poetry (one published posthumously) all became New York Times best sellers.

Stepanek's meeting with Carter on "Good Morning America" ultimately led to a collaboration between the two on the book "Just Peace: A Message of Hope," due in March 2006 from Andrews McMeel Publishing.

"Good Morning America" engineered the surprise meeting during a Dec. 4, 2001, interview with Stepanek about his first poetry book. Stepanek, who deeply admired Carter as a hero and "humble peacemaker," was visibly stunned and practically speechless when the former president walked onto the set.

Viewers selected this moment as the most memorable in the morning show's 30 years, over other contenders such as Bill Murray playing a weatherman, Charlie Gibson releasing an eagle into the wild and Diane Sawyer visiting child survivors of the tsunami. The clip may be viewed on the ABC News Web site, http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=1252581

After Stepanek's death, MDA established the MDA Mattie Fund to further support research on childhood neuromuscular diseases. (Contributions to the Mattie Fund can be sent to MDA Mattie Fund, P.O. Box 66002, Tucson, AZ 85728.)

MDA (www.mda.org) is a voluntary health agency working to defeat more than 40 neuromuscular diseases through programs of worldwide research, comprehensive services, and far-reaching professional and public health education.

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