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President’s Letter – December, 2007Greetings Fellow Skålleagues! Our December meeting was held at Carmen's Rooftop Restaurant at the Boca Raton Bridge Hotel. Thanks go to the staff of Carmen's for making the evening a most enjoyable one. The cocktail hour, with open bar, was greatly enhanced by the great hors d'oeuvres and cheese platters which the restaurant presented. There was more than enough to go around. Dance music was provided though out the evening by Bob Voca on keyboards and his vocalist Evelyn Alba. The opening toast was given by Skal Bielefeld, Germany member Werner Michels who on leaving remarked, in jest, he was contemplating transferring to our club. With the club 51 members strong we acknowledged the presence of several guests, perspective members and those with applications pending. Included were Neil and Lilly Palomba (guests of Nicola Iannone), the wives of Joe Ogni, Paul Alterman, Ben Murphy, Peter Berlin, Bill Decker, and Bernard Kainer. In addition Scotty Cassidy brought his lovely wife Marianne and guests Charlie and Monique Henry. Paul Cook was joined by June Leonard and his guests Joseph and Lydia Cook as well as his mother. Dick Stafford brought Linda Fraser and Wayne Lampert brought Ricardo Bustamante. The following perspective members also had guests: Zee Kurap of Skylink Travel group (National Sales Mgr.), James Hanson (Dir. Of Sales and Marketing for Palm Beach Airport Hilton) and his fiancé DeeDee Wilson, and Al Walleser (presently a member of the Miami Club) with his wife Anne. We are continuing to grow. The silent auction was well received having been organized by Dick Stafford with contributions from Jawayne Keyser of Martinair, Teresa Nix and Gail Freedman of Princess cruises, Larry Magor a St. Thomas Wyndham Resort stay, Serena Hoermann of eBoat Charters, Fred Ghadimi of the Palm Beach Airport Hilton, The Omni Hotel - Cancun courtesy of Abelardo Vara, Columbia Restaurant, Imperial Majesty Cruises, Pelican Bay Lucaya, Homewood suites, various Marriott Hotels and the Embassy Suites Lake Buena Vista. Thanks to everyone who donated and who participated The closing toast was given by our own Nicola Iannone. 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 December function. 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 travelizme@aol.com and inform him of those changes. In addition any other changes (address, phone, etc.) should be made on the NAASC website, www.naasc.com with a copy to Paul Cook. All members are invited to visit the SKAL International website to check on future conferences at www.skal.org . The locations for our upcoming meetings are as follows: January 15, 2008 - The Chefs Palette in the Culinary School at the Art Institute in Ft. Lauderdale. Please be sure to register early to guarantee receiving the fantastic menu they have planned for us. We will be hosting perspective Young Skal attendees and there will be a presentation. February 19, 2008 - will be held at the Marriott West Palm Beach - City Place.
Upcoming SKAL events are: December 8th, the Imperial Majesty Cruise to Nassau was a delight and kudos to member Sandy Saposnick for making it all possible. Our web site will have a picture of those attending who were honored to have had dinner with the on-board Hotel Manager Alain Chabot. My Best Wishes to each and every one of you for a HEALTHY AND HAPPY HOLIDAY SEASON. I look forward to seeing you all at the January Meeting. SKAL!
Wayne Lampert |