President’s Letter – October 2006

By Dick Stafford

Greetings fellow Skålleagues!

At the October dinner meeting our members and guests enjoyed a terrific evening at the Marriott Harbor Beach Resort & Spa in Ft. Lauderdale. The function started with cocktails and hors d'oeuvres on the Palm Terrace overlooking the ocean - it was a perfect night to be outside with a gentle ocean breeze keeping everyone cool. The dinner was excellent and the service was professional and attentive as usual at our host Marriott Hotel.

During the dinner we had the opportunity to wish Stefan Richter a happy birthday. We also had the pleasure of inducting Jawayne Keyser - District Passenger Sales with Martinair into the club as a new member. The board announced that as part of our charity work the club will be donating $100.00 to Richard's Run for Life which will go directly to benefit Pediatric Sarcoma Cancer Research at the Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute.

The boards nominating committee is in the process of selecting a slate of officers and board members for next year. If you are interested in participating on the board assisting in the continued growth of our club and developing new events for our members, please contact Paul Cook. The membership will vote on the new board at the January meeting and the newly elected board members will take office in April of 2007 at the Installation of Officers Dinner.

Several of our members have not picked up their new name tags as yet. If you haven't, make sure that you get your new name badge from Paul Cook at the next meeting.

We are in the process of finalizing the plans for the December Holiday Dinner Dance which will be held at Brooks Restaurant in Deerfield Beach on December 12th. Please keep in mind that this date is one week earlier than our usual meeting due to the Christmas holiday season. We are asking all of our members to donate something for our annual silent auction which will be held that night. In the past we have had many terrific items including gift certificates from hotels, cruise and airline packages, wine, gift baskets, CD's and other intriguing valuables. The proceeds of the auction are used to support the charities that SKAL International and our club are involved with. Tim Digby is heading up this years auction. Please contact Tim directly at the Marriott Hotel in West Palm Beach - 561 - 803-1900 or tim.digby@marriott.com with your contribution.

The locations for upcoming meetings are:

November 14, 2006 - we will be at the Columbia Restaurant at City Place in West Palm Beach. This is also one week earlier than our usual meeting due to the Thanksgiving holiday.

December 12, 2006 we will be at Brooks Restaurant in Deerfield Beach for our Holiday Dinner Dance.

Don't forget to check the clubs website www.skal-ftlauderdale-palmbeaches.org for additional club news, the upcoming Call to Meeting and the pictures from the October Dinner.

Looking forward to seeing everyone at the November meeting at the Columbia Restaurant in West Palm Beach.

SKAL!