President’s Letter
May 16, 2017

We returned to the Palm Beach Airport Hilton Hotel for our May dinner meeting and as usual the staff did a great job with the food and service. During the dinner we were provided an update of the Visit Florida situation thanks to Jorge Pesquera who has been deeply involved through Discover the Palm Beaches in trying to influence the State Legislature to do what is right and maintain the funding for this important asset in promoting tourism in Florida. We also gave everybody a heads up on the July 19th Discover the Palm Beaches annual Icebreaker which will be held at the Bowery Restaurant in City Place in West Palm. We will have a booth at the Icebreaker again this year to promote Skal. Remember when you come to the Icebreaker they will be collecting charity donations of school supplies again this year.

We have completed the final planning for our 40th Anniversary Party next month on June 13th which will be held at the Riverside Hotel in Ft Lauderdale. Thanks to Carol Tracz their Director of sales and General Manager Heiko Dobrikow, the Riverside has done a fantastic job in working with us to make this a truly memorable event. As you know, David Fisher the President of Skal International and Holly Powers the President of Skål USA will be with us as well as several other Skal officers, past members and Skalleagues from other clubs. During the evening there will be entertainment at the reception on the patio and a wine pull and auction during dinner – please contact us by the end of May with your wine and auction contributions. There will also be several presentations during dinner including the video celebrating our Skål Club's 40 years, proclamations honoring our club from Discover the Palm Beaches and the Ft Lauderdale Convention & Visitors Bureau as well as awards given out to several members.

Best wishes to our members celebrating birthdays this month:

We look forward to seeing you all next month at the 40th Anniversary Party at the Riverside Hotel. Please come to this special event and bring a guest. We have posted hotel room rates below if you would like to stay overnight after the party. Room rates for members and out of town guests are available at:

Riverside Hotel - The Skal discounted rates for June 1, 2017-June 30, 2017 will be as follows – use the code “community Rate” when calling the Reservation Department - 954-467-0671:

Hyatt Place FLL - $109.00 rate which includes parking, breakfast and Wi-Fi. Please email Andrew.Volkmann@hyatt.com your reservation request for the SKAL special discount or call 954-703-7046 direct for reservations.

Remember to log onto our club's website www.skal-ftlauderdale-palmbeaches.org to get more information on our club, event pictures and the upcoming Skål Monthly Reception and Dinner Meetings.

Until we meet again, safe travels and may all your journeys be an adventure.

Skål,

With Hospitality,

Dick Stafford
Vice President Skål International Ft. Lauderdale & Palm Beaches
Skål International Ft. Lauderdale & Palm Beaches