On Sept. 8, more than 40 NCI at Frederick and Leidos Biomedical Research employees, along with family and friends, swapped work clothes for golf gear at Maryland National Golf Club in Middletown. The golfers didn’t just play for fun; they participated in the second annual R&W Club Frederick Golf Tournament to support The Children’s Inn at NIH.

Occupational Health Services and the R&W Club teamed up again to hold Take a Hike Day on September 19. About 45 employees walked or jogged the 1.3-mile course around Fort Detrick during their lunch hours.

With the holiday season comes the generous holiday giving spirit. All federal employees are encouraged to give to the Combined Federal Campaign (CFC), the only authorized solicitation of federal employees in their workplace on behalf of approved charitable organizations. The CFC coordinates the fund-raising efforts of various charitable organizations so that federal employees are solicited in the workplace just once a year and have the opportunity to make contributions through payroll deduction.

The NCI at Frederick Employee Diversity Team (EDT) has prepared a new display that features a sample of the foreign films from the team’s collection in the Scientific Library. “Foreign films really help stimulate an awareness of different cultures and countries. I think it is a great celebration of diversity to have the Employee Diversity Team promote films from across the globe and make them available to our employees,” said Amber Elia, program analyst, NCI at Frederick Office of Scientific Operations, and member of the EDT.

My husband and I find calling ourselves “special needs parents” difficult. Yes, we do have a child who has autism, and yes, we approach each day differently, but I have never thought of that as special needs parenting.