President’s Letter
January 31, 2019

Happy Holidays Fellow Skålleagues!

My apologies for getting our monthly newsletter out to you so late in the month! Wave season and winter season is upon us, and hopefully you are enjoying the benefits of being in the hospitality industry, during Florida winter! I hope that you are busy doing what makes you happy!

It's always so exciting to venture into a new year. We enjoyed our first meeting at the Doubletree in Deerfield and I'm sure that all those that were there can agree that the food and service were both wonderful. For those who could not join us, we certainly missed you and look forward to seeing you next month.

I want to give a special thanks to our friend, Dick Stafford for his years of dedicated service on our board including two terms as club President. Dick has been a highly committed member of our board, and a steadfast servant of our club. Dick, we are sorry to see you leave for North Carolina, and wish you all the best on your new adventures. At our meeting last week, our chapter awarded Dick a lifetime membership to our chapter, and has a welcome invitation to any of our future events. Personally, Dick has been so instrumental with supporting my role in this club, and I am overwhelmingly thankful. Dick, we will all miss you.

Thank you, in advance, to our new board for the commitment and support of the club. I'd like to thank Melissa Nessenson for joining our board as our secretary. This year, we are looking forward to creating fun and interesting events while growing our membership.

We all know great people in this hospitality industry. Being a member of Skål gives you a solid network of professionals who share your passion for the business. This year, we plan to have fun and exciting events monthly. Our club offers a member incentive when we have a new member that you recommended a $50 dinner credit!

Last year in our January meeting, Carlos showed us a video to inspire us to invite potential new members of our chapter. The more members we have the stronger we are. Click on this link for the video: https://youtu.be/GBaHPND2QJg. Please remember to invite your friends to our meetings. It's always great to meet new friends!

Just a bit of housekeeping:

• In February, we are going to talk about our 2018 Venue of the Year Award. You'll receive a ballot to vote, and we'll make the big announcement in March. Please take a moment and vote on one of our wonderful venue partners when you receive the ballot.

• Please let us know if you need to cancel your "yes" RSVP before the Friday before a meeting. It happens to be the regular cutoff time for us to tell a venue our headcount, and contract the cost of our fun event. No shows and cancellations after Friday will be charged. This little detail has been causing our mighty club to lose money when we have fewer friends attend than we said we would. Losing money means possibly not having enough when we have Skålleagues in need around the world. We hope you understand. Last year, the Florimond Volckaert Fund was able to help our friends in the United States with over $30,000 in their time of need. We like being able to participate as best we can.

I look forward to seeing you all next month my friends at the February 5th dinner meeting at the West Palm Beach Marriott!

Best Wishes to our members celebrating birthdays this month:

Remember to log onto our club's website www.skal-ftlauderdale-palmbeaches.org or like us on Facebook, connect to us on LinkedIn, or follow us on Instagram, to get more information on our club, event pictures and the upcoming Skål Monthly Reception and Dinner Meetings.

Yours in Friendship & Skål!

Lisa Hamilton
President
Skål International Ft. Lauderdale and the Palm Beaches