President’s Letter – January, 2005

By Cindy Christen

Greetings fellow Skålleagues! Happy New Year!

I was not able to attend the holiday party this year, but I understand all had a good time. Thank you to Ron Stevens for the great music and his diligent work on securing auction items for the party and recommending the photographer. It looked like everybody’s photos came out nicely and will be a nice memento from the party.

Our January meeting was held at the Palm Beach Marriott. Thank you to our newest member Tim Digby whose chef from Tampa cooked our dinner as well as being a fine host for our club. We are especially pleased to welcome Tim into our club and look forward to seeing him at future meetings.

During November’s meeting the club voted in favor to submit a name change for the club from Skål of the Palm Beaches to Skål of the Palm Beaches and Ft. Lauderdale. Our SIUSA representative Lee Smolinski has submitted a letter to the SIUSA Board for the upcoming meeting in San Francisco. The name change will be placed on their agenda for discussion and approval at this meeting. As always we will keep you posted on the progress of this request. The letter is being posted on the website.

Please remember that we’ve implemented a new billing plan for 2005 that we believe will be easier for all members. You have been billed for 8 dinners @ $320, 2 dinners (installment & holiday party to be paid at venues). Therefore, the first billing for January 2005 would be for 3 dinners ($120) & yearly dues ($98) that amounts to $218 with the 2nd billing in May for the balance of $200. If you haven’t paid your first installment please do so as soon as possible, SKAL dues are included and must be paid by January 31. Due to the cumbersome logistics and extra work it was agreed that the club would no longer accept credit cards for payment dues or dinners, cash or check only will be accepted.

Our board has voted unanimously to donate $500 on behalf of the club to the tsunami relief charity by SKAL. We ask that each member give $10 or more if you can. Please send to Paul Alterman, SKAL Treasurer, 7850 NW 5th Place, Plantation, FL 33324. Thank you for your generosity.

Our nominating committee has released the nominations for the officers and board members for 2005-2006. They are Dick Stafford – President, Mike Gulotty – Vice President, Paul Cook – Secretary, Paul Alterman – Treasurer, SIUSA Rep - Carlos Banks and board members; Stefan Richter, Sandy Saposnick and Cindy Christen.

February’s meeting is set for February 15th at Benvenuto’s in Boynton Beach. Our March meeting location will be announced soon. In addition to our regular meeting in March Sandy Saposnick has offered to host our club with a luncheon onboard the MSC Lirica, Thursday, March 31. We will be able to accommodate 40 SKAL and potential new members on the MSC Lirica in Port Everglades. The ship inspection followed by lunch begins at 11:30a.m. This is a great opportunity to bring potential new members into the club, invite them to lunch, and see a beautiful ship! Please RSVP with you and your guest names and birth date (required for boarding the ship at the port) by March 15th to Dick Stafford at rwstafford@earthlink.net.

We look forward to welcoming our new transfers to the Palm Beach Club. Welcome back Stephen Barofsky from the Miami club and welcome to Larry Magor who transferred in from Washington, DC club. Remember we would like to profile each of our members in our website www.skalpalmbeaches.org so send us your resume and a picture so we can put you live on the web, and help you gain more networking capability. You can send your information to Dick Stafford at rwstafford@earthlink.net.

Mark your calendars for next month’s meeting, as we need everyone’s participation. Bring us your interesting ideas or recommendations for upcoming venues. Get involved!

SKAL!