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President’s Letter – January, 2009

Greetings Fellow Skålleagues!

Our January meeting was held at the Chefs Palette Café and Grill in Ft. Lauderdale. Thanks go to the students of the AI International Culinary School for making the evening truly memorable. The social hour, with beer & wine, was greatly enhanced by the great hot and cold hors d'oeuvres, including fresh lobster, which they presented. There was more than enough to go around. The student chef and his staff were introduced by the dining room manager, Gary.

The opening toast was given by out going board member and past President, Lee Smolinski.

With the club still in its growing stage we acknowledged the presence of several guests, and prospective members. Prospective members were Susan Lethbridge a guest of Mark Flager and Geoff Silvers of VivaVoyage.com who was the guest of Lee Smolinski. The guests of Bernie Falkow were his wife Marilyn and Robert Betancourt whose membership is pending. The wives of Peter Berlin (Judy) and Paul Alterman (Sheila) were charming additions as well as the husband of Bonnie Hanley (Richard). Wayne Lampert brought Ricardo Bustamante. The following SKAL International Viken Norway member, Visla Jakobsen, was present as the guest of Cloie Morales.

By a unanimous vote the following slate of officers and directors was elected:

  • Teresa Nix, President
  • Beth Cohen Knott, Vice President
  • Paul Cook, Secretary
  • Dick Stafford, SIUSA Rep.
  • Carlos Banks, Treasurer
  • Members of the Board: Paul Alterman, James Hansen, Wayne M Lampert, and Art Stark.

The appointment of Carlos Banks continuing as Executive Secretary Treasurer was announced.

The closing toast was given by long time member, Ben Murphy.

Those of you who have not logged on to our website recently, www.skal-ftlauderdale-palmbeaches.org, are encouraged to do so and to check out the pictures of this great January meeting. Additionally, any member wishing to have a link put on the website to their business can do so by sending a 'live link' to rwstaff@bellsouth.net .

Those members who have had a change in email address are requested to contact Paul Cook at travelizeme@aol.com and inform him of those changes. In addition any other changes (address, phone, etc.) should be made on the Skal website, www.skal.org with a copy to Paul Cook. All members are invited to visit the SKAL International website www.skal.org and the SIUSA website www.siusa.org to check on future conferences and member information. The locations for our upcoming meetings are as follows:
  • February 17, 2009 will be held at the Marriott West Palm Beach - City Place.
  • March 17, 2009 St. Patrick's Day will be at the Le Bistro Restaurant in Lighthouse Point, where a gourmet Irish meal will be available.
  • April 21, 2009 Formal Installation Dinner will be at the Hilton West Palm Beach

Upcoming SKAL events are:

  • Puerto Rico will be holding its 50th Anniversary in San Juan April 3-5, for info go to www.skalpr.com
  • The annual NAASC meeting will be held in Anchorage, Alaska May 7-10 with info at www.skalanchorage.com.
  • SKAL International will hold its annual conference in Budapest starting November 1st go to www.skal.org and click on conferences for full information.

    • All fellow Skalleagues are welcome to attend all these events.

    I look forward to seeing you all at the February Meeting.

    SKAL!

    Wayne Lampert
    President