President’s Letter
April 19, 2016

What a fabulous Installation Dinner at the Via Mizner Country Club. Thank you to Ron Stevens for the invitation and making the arrangements for us to be hosted at Via Mizner. Thank you especially to Mario Olarte and the Via Mizner team for the great hospitality in such a beautiful setting. It was a perfect way to welcome in the new board. During the dinner we were able to watch the video presentation for our nomination for SIUSA 2015 Club of the Year which will be awarded in June at the NAASC Congress. The review of the clubs activities in 2015 was also shown which included slides honoring Dick Knorpp and Jim Ponce who both passed away last year.

We had a good turnout and Dick was a wonderful MC in Becky's absence, yes we really missed you Becky and we wish you and Ray a speedy recovery. Becky sent the following message to the members.

“During my last year as President, I have watched our membership grow, experienced so much pride in our club as we received 3rd Place as SKAL International Club of the Year, and enjoyed spending time with each and every one of you! I can't thank my Board enough for being such a support system for me. You wouldn't believe how strong their desire is in making our club the best! Thank you all for helping us make this year a success! Remember to enjoy the friendships you have made throughout the year because that's what we are all about!

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to attend our Installation Dinner so I would like to congratulate our new President, Ian Black, Officers and Board Members. He has everything it takes to make our Club "Better Than Terrific!"

Holly Powers, Vice President, Administration for SIUSA was with us to officiate the installation of the new board and it was such a pleasure to have her with us. She even sent a very nice follow up letter to thank us when it really should be us thanking her for her participation. Which I did.

During the dinner we presented Wilson Carter with the certificate honoring him for his 25 years as a Skål member. We also presented Terese Ternullo with her new Skål membership certificate. The 2015 Venue of the Year award chosen by the members went to the Chesterfield Hotel which was accepted by Cecilia Hudnet the Chesterfield Hotel’s Director of Sales.

We reviewed upcoming events for this year – please mark your calendars and plan to attend:

• May 17th – Hilton West Palm Beach Airport
• June 15th – Wednesday – Double Tree Hotel, Deerfield Beach – our 6th Annual Hospitality, Travel & Tourism Summer Social – collection of wine and auction item donations will start shortly
• July 20th – 2nd Icebreaker – Steve Crist of Discover the Palm Beaches talked about the event which our Skål club is a co-sponsor of and will have a booth to promote Skål and membership

We thanked the outgoing Board Members, Beth Cohen and Mary Sue Jurkowski (unable to attend) for their years of service to the members and our club.

Holly Powers presided over the Installation and pinning of our 2016 - 2017 Officers and Directors.

Ian Black made a special presentation of our Skål club’s flag to Holly Powers. In his closing remarks Ian thanked all of our guests for attending this special evening and talked about his views and ideas for the club going forward in the New Year.

We had a spontaneous fund raiser for the Ecuador Club after the earthquake there last week. We raised $110.00 in just a few minutes. Thank you for being such a generous club. We will follow that up with a more official 50/50 fund raiser at next month’s dinner so bring your checkbooks or cash.

I am really looking forward to a fabulous year with a great Board of Directors and the events and projects we are planning. Until we meet in May, safe journeys to you and may you find happiness in all you do.

Best wishes to our members celebrating birthdays this month:

Don’t forget to log onto our website www.skal-ftlauderdale-palmbeaches.org to get more information on our club, pictures and the upcoming Skål Monthly Reception and Dinner Meetings.

Yours in Skål,

Ian
Ian Black
President
Skål International Ft. Lauderdale & Palm Beaches