President’s Letter
June 15, 2016

We held the Club's 6th Annual Hospitality, Travel & Tourism Summer Social and Wine Auction on June 15th at the Doubletree Hotel in Deerfield Beach. It was a fun event with lots of wine given away during the wine pull and the live auction had some great items including hotel stays, a $100 bottle of wine donated by Erica Gregory and Windridge Yachts as well as the 3 day cruise on NCL donated by Mary Sue Jurkowski. The wine pull and auction were very successful raising $1,533.00 for the club and to benefit the Club's charities. Thanks to all of our members who contributed wine and live auction items for the Summer Social event.

As you know everyone was alerted at the Summer Social about the hospitalization of Ian Black and you were updated on his condition in the email sent to you with the press release that he has been released from the hospital and is recovering after his surgery. During the evening Carlos presented the Club with the plaque we were awarded by Skal International USA at the NAASC Congress in Boise as the Number 1 Skal Club for 2015 in the United States. Congratulations to all of our members for helping to make this happen, especially after having also been selected as the Number 3 Skal Club in the World for 2015 by Skal International. Both plaques were on display at the Summer Social. We also had the pleasure of inducting our newest member Christina Carr into Skal. Congratulations Christina we are proud to have you as one of our members. Several guests at the Summer Social expressed interest in joining Skal and we will follow up with them and send them membership applications.

Now it is time for another fun event, the Discover the Palm Beaches Hospitality Industry Icebreaker on July 20th which will be held this year at the Pavilion Grille in Boca Raton. The flyer for the Icebreaker with our exclusive Skal registration code will be sent out to you in the next couple of days. Last year Skal had one of the largest turnouts at the Icebreaker among the sponsoring organizations and we look forward to having a great turnout again this year. This year’s event will again feature a school supply drive for the Place of Hope charity. This is also a fun networking event and an opportunity to promote Skal to potential new members. Also coming up this summer is the SKAL International Region IV Retreat, it will be held August 19-21, 2016 at the Holiday Inn Resort at Jekyll Island.

Best wishes to our members celebrating birthdays this month:

Here are the dates and venues for the dinner meetings starting in the fall – mark you calendars:

September 20, 2016 – Mai Kai – Ft Lauderdale
October 18, 2016 – Hilton Hotel Convention Center – West Palm Beach
November 15, 2016 – Embassy Suites – Boca Raton
December 14, 2016 – Wednesday – Benvenuto’s – Boynton Beach – Holiday Party

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.

Looking forward to seeing everyone in July at the Discover the Palm Beaches Icebreaker. Enjoy the summer!

Yours in Skål,

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