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President’s Letter – October, 2005By Dick Stafford Greetings Fellow Skålleagues! An interesting and fun evening was enjoyed by all at our October meeting at the Cypress Creek Marriott Hotel in Ft. Lauderdale. We had several prospective new members join us for dinner. Bernard Falkow, who is a retired member of the Atlantic City SKAL Club, will be transferring his membership to our club. During our meeting Bernard presented us with the SKAL banner from the Atlantic City Club. Joining him for the second time was Peter Berlin. Peter has accepted our invitation to join our club and will be bringing another potential member from his travel agency to our next meeting. Kristina Harmon who is with LTU International Airways was also at the dinner and has expressed an interest in joining the club. The board has been working hard to introduce our SKAL Club to potential new members and we expect to have several more guests at our November meeting.
Members were reminded of the locations for our upcoming dinner meetings. They are: Ron Stevens and Larry Magor will be heading up the effort to obtain a great list of items for the Silent Auction at the Christmas Dinner Dance. Each of the clubs members should provide an item for the auction. In addition those members who have the ability to solicit gift certificates, travel vouchers or prizes from other organizations should assist Ron & Larry in this effort so that we have a number of valuable and interesting items for our members and guests to bid on during the auction. The club has sent in our contribution to the SKAL Katrina Relief Fund. Thanks to the usual generosity of our members we sent a check in the amount of $805.00 to the fund. Paul Cook and Jim Ponce represented the club at the Celebration of Paul Bell's life held on Saturday October 15, 2005. Paul Cook indicated that there was an excellent turnout and many memories and stories were exchanged about Paul Bell. Lee Smolinski, Bill Pullen and Carlos Banks are in Croatia at the SKAL World Congress. Lee Smolinski as our SIUSA representative has held several meetings with officials of SIUSA and SKAL International regarding our clubs request to change our name. Lee reports that we have received tentative approval from SKAL to incorporate "Ft. Lauderdale" into the clubs name. We hope to have all of the necessary details taken care of shortly after the first of the year.
I thought you might be interested in the breakdown of SKAL membership worldwide by classification. It is as follows: SKAL has approved Restaurants as a new classification of membership. The rules regarding the qualifications required to become a restaurant member are being finalized. As you know, Cindy Christen recently started her new position as Southeast Regional Sales Manager for the American Orient Express Rail Expeditions. Cindy gave a very informative talk to the club at the October dinner about American Orient Express and their routes. Her new position offered several of those in attendance an opportunity to build a new business relationship. For those of you who missed the dinner don't hesitate to talk to Cindy about this. It is an exciting first class program. Don't forget to make your arrangements for the cruise that Lee Smolinski has arranged for the club. Lee will be donating his commission to the club on each cabin that is booked through his website so that the cruise will be a fundraiser for the club. Saturday & Sunday November 5-6, 2005 - You are invited to join your fellow Skalleagues on a 1-night cruise aboard the brand new ship The Norwegian Jewel departing from the port of Miami. The Norwegian ship features freestyle cruising with 10 restaurants, a casino, showroom and an array of leisure and sporting activities. The cost per person for an inside cabin is $139.00, an oceanview cabin is $149.00 per person and a balcony cabin is $199.00 per person. Boarding will start at approximately 1:30 PM on Saturday. The ship will sail at 4PM and return to Miami at 7AM on Sunday. The price includes lunch, dinner, breakfast, all taxes and fees. Please book the cruise and select your stateroom directly by clicking on the following website link: http://www.smartcruiser.com/travel/cruise/sailplan.rvlx?CruiseItineraryID=38622 NCL has had very good response to this cruise with some cabin classifications already sold out so please don't be left on shore - make your arrangements through the website link above ASAP. Once we know how many members and guests will be on board, Lee will see if we can reserve one of the specialty restaurants for the club to have dinner together. Don't forget to check the clubs website for additional club news and pictures. www.skalpalmbeaches.org Looking forward to seeing everyone in November at the Heart of Palm Hotel. SKAL
Dick Stafford |