I realize that you won’t receive this NCFR Report piece until summer, but I wanted to provide you with a summary of the activities we as a section are involved in as we prepare for the 2012 annual conference in Phoenix. Boy, it has been a busy time!

First, our Walk to Phoenix project is off to a great start. At the time of this writing, the Family and Health Section is leading the section competition with Family Therapy, Education & Enrichment, Research and Theory, Ethnic Minorities, and Family Science edging closer all the time! The Family and Health Team currently has 15 registered team members, but we could sure use the help of other section members. I hope you will consider joining our team and logging your hours. You can get information about enrolling and logging hours on the NCFR website!

In addition to the section teams, we also have nine informal teams. I am pleased that we have a Family Social Science team here in my department with folks logging miles. If you have friends you want to walk with, please let NCFR know so that your informal team can be entered in this competition. Great prizes await!

Second, this month (March) we are in the process of reviewing abstracts and populating the 2012 conference program. What can I say – you are magnificent! Compared to last year, our section has a 58% increase in the number of abstracts submitted (84 vs. 133). Whew, you can imagine the number of reviewers we needed to insure that all abstracts were reviewed. When I realized how many abstracts we were going to need to review, I sent an urgent plea to all of you to assist. I want to express my appreciation to the 70+ reviewers who allowed us to complete our work on time!

Once I complete conference planning in April with the conference program chair, section chairs, and the NCFR staff, we will be on to our other 2012 Family and Health project—the 5K Walk/Run to take place in Phoenix. The proceeds from this run will be donated to a family focused non-profit in the Phoenix area. This is a special way we can focus on health, take care of ourselves in the process, and recognize the great work that is taking place on behalf of families in the area.  Please keep this in mind and be ready to sign up and enjoy this conference event.

In closing, at NCFR this is the year of Families and Health. We are fortunate to have the opportunity for highlighting the many ways health is central to family well-being. I congratulate all of you for taking our charge seriously – we have stepped up to the plate to show our support for the annual conference. I look forward to seeing the results of our efforts in Phoenix!