Maryland NARFE Chapter 1747 News Flash!
- The May 2013 newsletter is posted. Find it with the others newsletters.
- Help and Participation wanted for upcoming Chapter 1747 Special Events.
- April 29 — May 1 The Maryland Federation of Chapters will hold its 41st State Convention in Ocean City, Maryland at the Carousel Resort Hotel. More information and registration material
- May 16 – General Meeting: Maryland Legislators will give first-hand accounts on the MD General Assembly Legislative Session. We have invited three members of the General Assembly to talk about the recently concluded 2013 Maryland Legislative Session. They are: Sen. Edward Reilly (R-District 33), Sen. Douglas Peters (D-District 23), and Del. Geraldine Valentino-Smith (D-District 23A). Please come, listen, and feel free to ask questions.
- June 20 – Luncheon: Installation of Chapter 1747 Officers. This will be at the Blue Dolphin Seafood Bar & Grill (Rte. 3 South, Gambrills.) Starts at 11:30 am. Your $24 (includes tax/tip) gives you a choice of one of three entrées: Crab Cake, NY Strip Steak, or Chicken Marsala; each comes with bread/rolls, salad, baked potato, green beans, and cake, coffee or tea. You’ll choose your entrée when you get there. Flyers and sign-up sheets will be available at our April and May membership meetings, or you can contact Treasurer Bob Cullen or Asst. Treasurer Louise Cole.
- Read The 2012 Legislative Program of the Maryland Federation of Chapters of NARFE.
- Read NARFE’S LEGISLATIVE PROGRAM FOR THE 113th CONGRESS(2013-2014)
- Read Dorothy Campbell’s report on the NARFE National Convention.
- More on the War Against Federal / Postal Workers and Retirees – Read Sen. Rand Paul’s Congressional Health Care for Seniors Act.
- 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 – 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, November and December. Each general membership meeting includes a special interesting and informative program. These meetings are held at Bowie Senior Center, 14900 Health Center Drive, Bowie, 20716 in Rooms #2–4.
Every November, a special membership meeting is held. 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) at 10:00 a.m.
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 28 April 2013.
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/

