When members of the National Catholic Society of Foresters met in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, last month, they elected a new slate of officers and national directors. One of those national directors is Linda Ortiz of Moline, who will serve for the next four years.

Involved in NCSF for 38 years, Ortiz is currently the president of St. Mary Court No. 1017 in East Moline. She said she was involved in another court for several years, but had to step back from leadership while she was working full time as a certified human resources professional.

Now retired, she returned to an active role and was elected president of the St. Mary Court in May.

As a national director, she will participate in setting the direction of the fraternal benefit society and travel to the home office in Mount Prospect for meetings four times a year.

“We’re looking at making sure our brand is recognized,” Ortiz said.

“When the organization was founded many, many years ago women were staying home and these meetings were their one night out. Now many women work so it’s difficult to come to a meeting.

“We want to provide an opportunity for people to have an outlet to do charitable work,” she added. “We are a fraternal Catholic organization who will return money to our members. That’s our goal. We need to get some new agents, do some publicity and get some new members.”
Founded in 1891, the National Catholic Society of Foresters provides low-cost, comprehensive insurance protection and fixed-rate annuity products for Catholic families. Because it is a nonprofit society all of the benefits are returned to the members in the form of scholarships to Catholic high school students and CCD students and other charitable endeavors, Ortiz explained.