President’s Letter – December 2006

By Dick Stafford

Greetings fellow Skålleagues!

Our annual Holiday Dinner Dance & Auction at Brooks Restaurant in Deerfield Beach was enjoyed by over 40 members and guests. The evening started with cocktails and hors d'oeuvres followed by a wonderful dinner with music and dancing.

During the dinner we had the opportunity to induct two new members into our club - Bonnie Brown, Senior Account Manager for CSA Travel Protection and Emilio Freeman, Senior Vice President for ResidenSea.

The silent auction drew everyone's attention. Auction items included dinner certificates from several restaurants, a gift box from Princess Cruises, a golf package for four, a CD player, round trip airfare to either Amsterdam or San Jose, Costa Rica and a variety of hotel packages from locations in Florida, Charleston, South Carolina, Stone Mountain, Georgia and San Jose, Costa Rica. All of the items up for auction had a total retail value of $4,900 and the successful bidders enjoyed great values as the final tally from the auction was $1,641.

Thanks to Jawayne Keyser of Martina Air, Teresa Nix of Princess Cruise Lines, Lorrie Hero of the Columbia Restaurant, Fred Ghadimi of the Palm Beach Hilton, David Nimmo, Bernhard Kainer and especially to Tim Digby of the West Palm Beach Marriott who headed up the auction and obtained all of the Marriott Hotels and Resort gift certificates.

You have already received your invoice for next year's dues. Remember that dues are payable by January 15, 2007. As you know we are required to pay all member dues to SKAL International by January 31, 2007. Any individual's dues that are not received by then will not be included in the 2007 membership roster.

The club's new credit card program was a hit at the December Dinner Dance with most members paying for their meals and auction winnings with their credit card. You also have the option of paying for your 2007 dues by credit card. If you have any questions give our Treasurer, Carlos Banks a call.

The locations for upcoming meetings are:

January 16, 2007 we will be at the Chef's Palette Café & Grill at the School of Culinary Arts in Ft. Lauderdale.

February 20, 2007 we will be returning to the Marriott City Place in West Palm Beach.

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

Looking forward to seeing you at the first meeting of 2007 on January 16th.

Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Have a safe and enjoyable holiday season.

SKAL!