Northwood News ♦ October 2022

President’s Message

By Linda Perlman

Fall is here, along with a new NFCCA meeting year.  Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the 12 October meeting at Forest Knolls Elementary School will be the first NFCCA in-person meeting since I became President in October 2020.  (The October meeting also will be simulcast on Zoom.)  Our speaker will be Community Service Officer Kathryn Beard.

I will be stepping down as President after the October meeting, although I intend to continue to be active in the NFCCA as Immediate Past President.  After 16 years as a civic association officer, it is time for me to move on.

We have an excellent group of NFCCA volunteers, from the editor of the Northwood News to the volunteers who write for and deliver this newsletter to the officers and board members who organize and coordinate meetings and events and look out for our community when public actions are considered that may impact our neighborhood.  But we need additional volunteers and members — and more diverse volunteers and members — to maintain the NFCCA as an active civic organization and to ensure that the NFCCA represents our entire community.  Joining the NFCCA Board is a good way to promote neighborhood issues, meet your neighbors, and be a part of a collegial and friendly group.

Despite the ongoing public health crisis, the NFCCA has sponsored many activities during my two years as president:

• Community and social activities, including:  (1) National Night Out celebration (see article), (2) Family Bike Rides (another bike ride is scheduled for October, see article), (3) multifamily Neighborhood Yard Sale (see article), (4) Halloween house and pet decorating contests (see article), (5) Home Tree Care Workshop with an arborist from Conservation Montgomery (see article), and (6) Good Neighborhood Award to John and Bette Hill for their years of work bagging and delivering the 1,500+ Northwood News newsletters five times per year (see article).
• Our Zoom meetings on topics ranging from the Vision Zero program to voting and election procedures to the “Buy Nothing” movement (see article) to COVID vaccine distribution to Maryland General Assembly updates to community policing and traffic enforcement to the Anacostia River and the Northwest Branch-Lockridge Tributary “bandalong” trash trap (see article) to candidate forums for District 5 and At Large County Council seats.

At the General Membership Meeting on 12 October, neighbors will be selecting officers and board members to lead the NFCCA for the next year, as well as ratifying the first NFCCA dues increase in 20+ years (see article).  You must be a paid NFCCA member to vote, but the meeting is open to all.

Please consider getting involved in our neighborhood civic association and helping to guide the future direction of the NFCCA.  My years as an NFCCA officer and board member have been fun; yours can be, too!   ■