Increased command participation and a focus on "fun" during this year's Navy-Marine Corps Relief Society Fund Drive resulted in a 5 percent increase in donations over 2015 results, ending a five-year fundraising slump and resulting in a final total of $91,078 raised at NAS Patuxent River for 2016.

"I was very concerned about the continued decline in donations over the past five years," explained Maureen Farrell, director of Patuxent River's NMCRS office. "While donations went down, assistance increased 42 percent in the same time frame, topping out at $232,886. It would not benefit our service members - both active duty and retired - to have to cut back on NMCRS assistance because of the lack of funds to assist them; but that would've been the logical effect."

Farrell credits Chief Yeoman Kathryn Norton and Chief Air Traffic Controller Corey Fowler, the 2016 fund drive chairs, and Lt. Adam Patterson, fund drive coordinator, with the favorable result.

"They encouraged command representatives to actively engage in fund drive activities," she said.

After being introduced to the Pax River NMCRS office during his CPO 365 Tour and witnessing the impact it had on its clients, Information Systems Technician 1st Class Keith D. Bridges took the fund drive challenge seriously.

"Bridges encouraged sharing of real NMCRS experiences to illustrate the importance of the society to the command and provided fliers at each event to help educate participants about NMCRS programs and services; and he put the 'fun' into fund drive," Farrell said. "His command sponsored 11 events which included activities such as a basketball tournament and chili cook-off. Bridges also noted an increase in command morale as an added bonus of the fund drive activities."

Several other commands including HX-21; NAVAIR HQ AIR-OO/AIR 7.0; Naval Health Clinic Patuxent River; PEO(A); PMA 251; PMA 276; VX-20; and VX-23 also achieved notable increases in donations over their 2015 results, and the impressive totals will go a long way in providing much needed assistance for NMCRS clients, Farrell noted.

The Pax River NMCRS office is located in Building 401, and is open for assistance 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Thursday. For more information on NMCRS services, contact Farrell at 301-342-4739 or Maureen.Farrell@nmcrs.org.

"The annual drive may be over, but it's never too late to donate to NMCRS," Farrell added.

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