WID assists USO drive in Nation's Capital: A National Security Organization. (Women in Defense).

Women In Defense supported USO of Metropolitan Washington's efforts to deliver special greetings and care packages to service members during the holiday season. The USO sent personal holiday greetings from individual donors and care packages filled with snacks, calling cards, toiletries, juice or soda, paperback books and more. All these were sent to service men and women stationed throughout the Washington, D.C. area, troops temporarily relocated to the area and uniformed personnel deployed overseas.

To aid these efforts, WID announced a matching program of up to $2,500 for WID referrals. WID's intention was to help "our service men and women to know that those of us at home appreciate their efforts on behalf of our country and that we are thinking of them during this holiday season," said WID Vice President Julie Alford.

NDIA President Lawrence P. Farrell Jr. announced at WID's Holiday Reception that NDIA would "kick-start" the program by donating $1,000.

Job Fair

Women In Defense's annual New Member Reception and Job Fair-held in early January at the Army/Navy Country Club in Arlington, Va.--featured exhibitions by major defense contractors and high-tech firms.

Participating companies included: Amerind, Ball Aerospace, Project Developers Inc., Booz-Allen & Hamilton, Logistics Management Institute, Zimmerman Associates, Research Planning, Inc., and Grant Thornton.

The event was co-chaired by WID Job Bank Director Suzanne Moore and WID Membership Director Chris Cabell.

Thomas Nordby, NDIA's director of Internet services and sponsorships, provided an overview of Women In Defense's Web-based Job Bank. He conducted a step-by-step tutorial on how to access the Job Bank, search for jobs, submit job openings, and post resumes.

WID Web Site Redesign

WID Secretary Heather Owens took on a major challenge recently, when she agreed to manage the redesign and relaunch of WID's Web site. Owens worked closely with NDIA Director of Internet Services Thomas Nordby to create a Web site that was more useful to members and more graphically appealing. "Increasingly, an organization's Web site provides the first impression to the public and becomes the life-blood of information to any non-profit organization," Owens said.

The new Web site was scheduled to be rolled in January. It was to contain such important information as upcoming events, points of contact, identities of WID's national board of directors, HORIZONS scholarship opportunities, chapter formation advice, by-laws and more. Members would be able to update their membership information, including job and address changes via the site as well. Check for the changes by accessing WID's Web site at: http://wid.ndia.org.

Norma Byron is president of Women In Defense.