Maryland NARFE Chapter 1747 News Flash!
- The May 2012 newsletter is posted. Find it with the others newsletters.
- May 19 – Crofton Civic Association sponsoring 22nd Annual Armed Forces/Homeland Security Parade
- May 26 – CITY OF BOWIE Memorial Day Parade: Come march in this parade or just watch.
- May 28 – Bowie Annual Wreath-Laying Ceremony at Veterans Park.
- June 2 – Bowiefest: Have fun! Come to the NARFE 1747 table at Bowiefest, Allen Pond Park.
- June 21 – Chapter Picnic: 11:30 AM, East Pavilion, Allen Pond Park, Bowie. Cost: $18.00 Reservations MUST be made and PAID FOR by Monday, June 18. See flyer for more info.
- More on the War Against Federal / Postal Workers and Retirees – Read Sen. Rand Paul’s Congressional Health Care for Seniors Act.
- March, April, May Membership Meetings to Be Held at Bowie Senior Center!!!
Until further notice, our general membership meetings will be held at the Bowie Senior Center, 14900 Health Center Drive, Bowie, 20716 in Rooms #2–4. The City will be renovating Kenhill Center and safety is one of the issues preventing us from meeting there. We will continue to meet on the 3rd Thursday of the month, from 10 a.m.–noon. While we meet at the Senior Center we will not be able to enjoy coffee and goodies in our assigned space. However, coffee, refreshments and lunch are available in the Senior Center’s “Great Room” at a nominal cost. What will happen in the future is still unclear, but a City memo states: “When the Kenhill Center resumes full operating hours, your group could consider moving back. . .“ Since we don’t know when this “resumption” will take place, and this June we will have our biennial picnic and we don’t meet in July and August—please be sure to check your September newsletter to find out where our September meeting will take place. Or you can check our website for the meeting location.
- Read – The 2012 Legislative Program of the Maryland Federation of Chapters of NARFE.
- Check out what Mike Causey, Senior Correspondent, Federal News Radio, says about NARFE.
- COLA Announced: Federal Retirement Annuities Will Rise in 2012. Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS) will receive a 3.6 percent increase to their annuities while Federal Employee Retirement System (FERS) will receive a 2.6 percent increase to their annuities. Click here to find out more.
General News
- Read – The Fight Over the Federal Pay Freeze! – Capital Hill/Washington debate over a freeze raises many issues, many voices, many differences of opinion and many concerns. Check out some of them in Chapter 1747 Federal Legislation Chair Joe Young's overview.
- ELECTION OF CHAPTER OFFICERS: The following officers were reelected/elected to serve for two years Dorothy Campbell, president; Lee Tuveson, 1st vice president; Lillie Watson, 2nd vice president; Chiquitta Thomas, secretary; Jackie Wilson, assistant secretary (appointed); Bob Cullen, treasurer; and Louise Cole, assistant treasurer.
- The newsletters of United Seniors of Maryland can be found here.
- Read NARFE’S Legislative Program for the 112th Congress (2011-2012)
- Read – Chapter 1747 Membership Action Plan for 2011.
- Read – BE PREPARED FOR LIFE’S EVENTS
- Make an online donation personally or on behalf of your NARFE chapter to the Alzheimer's Association.
- Read – NARFE’s Recent Legislative Accomplishments in the 111th Congress.
- PREVIEW OUR SPECIAL ACTIVITIES: Every year we participate in lots of great activities and events in the communities covered by our charter. They include fun activities such as the annual patriotic/holiday parades in Crofton and Bowie (May) and our biennial picnic (June). They include having informational tables at Bowiefest (June) and the Odenton Fair (October). Please participate in these activities/events, not only to support our Chapter, but to get the word out to our communities about NARFE. Check both the website and our monthly newsletter for details on these and even more activities. For specifics, or if you know of other events, contact any Community Events Coordinator or any officer (see Chapter Newsletter or the website officer list).
- SOME GREAT “VOLUNTEER” NEWS! In response to our request for help, we now have volunteers to pick up the chapter’s newsletter, seal it and label it, and take it to the Post Office. (Check out the President’s Message in the newsletter regularly for updates on chapter volunteers.)
- Did you start receiving Social Security benefits early? You’d better read Don O’Donnelley’s Letter to the Editor.
- Check out our new In the News section!
Meetings
We hold general membership meetings at 10:00 a.m. on the third Thursday of each month, except in June, July, August, October and December. Each general membership meeting includes a special interesting and informative program. These meetings are held at Kenhill Center (old Bowie City Hall), 2614 Kenhill Drive, Bowie in Conference Room 214.
Every October, the membership meeting is held on a Saturday so that those who work weekdays may attend. This special meeting features presentations from several of the largest health insurance providers so that you can become knowledgeable about Open Season changes. This meeting is in the Multi-purpose Room at Kenhill Center (old Bowie City Hall).
Each June meeting is combined with a luncheon in odd-numbered years and a picnic in even-numbered years. In December, the meeting is combined with a holiday luncheon. There are no general membership meetings in July or August.
If you’d like to suggest a topic for a membership meeting, please contact the Programs Committee Chair. And if you need transportation to a meeting, contact President Dorothy Campbell.
What is NARFE?
The National Active and Retired Federal Employees Association (NARFE) is an organization whose members are current or retired federal workers and their spouses. Its main purpose is to protect the earned benefits of its members. On the chapter level, NARFE holds regular meetings, creates social contacts, provides help in dealing with the federal bureaucracy, advocates for the NARFE national organization’s issues, advocates for state issues that mainly benefit seniors, and provides information on NARFE activities and concerns.
NEW MEMBERS NEEDED
Do you know of a business or facility (bank, fitness facility, spa, medical office, etc) that will let us display our newsletter and/or the NARFE magazine? Please let Dorothy Campbell or any other officer know. If you are still working for the government, maybe you can take several copies of the newsletter/magazine to work with you to display.
REMEMBER NARFE IS THE ONLY ORGANIZATION YOU CAN DEPEND ON WHILE YOU ARE STILL WORKING OR HAVE RETIRED
Just look at the benefits you are now receiving. You can thank NARFE for beating on the doors of the legislators to ensure we receive all that we earned over our working years.
More Than Paying Dues
Paying dues to NARFE and Chapter 1747 makes you a member in good standing, delivers the national magazine and the chapter’s newsletter to you by mail, and now will provide even more information via the Internet.
But to be a “good member” takes some effort on your part. It entails attending membership meetings, participating in special events, working on committees, lobbying, holding office. It means recognizing that it’s your organization, and its continued success and growth depend on the participation of a greater circle of members – not just a limited number of officers and activists.
Advantages of Belonging to NARFE
NARFE is a membership organization of current and retired federal employees, spouses and survivors. NARFE is open to all persons who are receiving, or will be eligible to receive, an annuity or survivor annuity from any of the retirement programs of a civilian agency of the US Government.
NARFE is involved in protecting the earned retirement benefits of its members in over 2000 chapters in the United States. There is no other organization that can accomplish this.
Through NARFE, members receive the latest information on retirement issues, taxes, financial planning, and health benefits. In addition, members receive the monthly NARFE Magazine, written especially for current and retired federal employees. Members can also sign up for NARFE’s Global E-mail Messaging System (GEMS) for the most up-to-date information from NARFE Headquarters.
When you join NARFE, you are assigned a local chapter that meets on a monthly basis, 10 times a year. The chapter provides social contacts, information on chapter activities in the community and also lobbies its state legislature on issues important to members of NARFE and the local community.
To join, click here and obtain a membership application.
How Chapter 1747 Greater Bowie-Crofton Area Began
Fifty people assembled on April 15, 1980 at Bowie City Hall to form the Bowie-Crofton Chapter of NARFE. That meeting was organized by Ben Zitomer, a member of the College Park-Greenbelt Chapter who, along with others who lived in Bowie and Crofton, wanted to form their own chapter. Those 50 people signed on, and the quest for a charter for the new chapter proceeded.
On April 28, 1980 they adopted a constitution and by-laws, which national NARFE approved on May 6. On October 31, they were granted their charter and “empowered to do all things pertaining to the good of the organization ...“.
Since the beginning, the chapter has steadily grown, and today our membership hovers around 900 current federal employees and retirees and their spouses. Our chapter includes members from the five communities listed in our charter -- Bowie, Crofton, Mitchellville, Odenton, and Gambrills — as well as other surrounding areas.
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This is the official Web site of
NARFE Chapter 1747 – Greater Bowie-Crofton Area.
Created by Bill Meenahan as a public service. Maintained by Flash Gordon.
This page was updated 17 May 2012.
Opinions and positions that appear on this Web site are not necessarily those of NARFE’s national organization, despite the fact that this site bears the NARFE national organization’s name and seal.
URL: http://narfe1747.org/

