President’s Letter
June 16, 2015

Becky is out of town on a well de-served vacation and asked me to write the Presidents Letter for her this month. We returned to the Palm Beach Marriott Resort on Singer Island for our June dinner meeting and as expected the hotel and staff did a great job with the food and service. With the members present it was good to see Angelina De Vita back with us again and we also had a special guest Paula Cabrera with Orbitz who is based in the Dominican Republic join us at the dinner. During the dinner we had the privilege of formally inducting Mariel Mendoza with Sixt Rent a Car into the club as a new member of Skal.

As you know we are one of only six (6) clubs worldwide who have been nominated for the Skal International Club of the Year! We are in the process of preparing the power point presentation to demonstrate why Skal International Ft Lauderdale & Palm Beaches should be chosen as the number one (1) club in the world. One of the points that Skal International looks for is what clubs have done to support charities and their communities. In addition to last month’s contribution to Nepal from our club, earlier this month Lisa Hamilton and Carlos Banks were attending the Avoya Travel Conference in San Diego and participated along with 500 volunteer’s and Friends & Family in putting together 70,000 meals to be sent to Nepal. Thanks to both Lisa and Carlos for doing this and we will definitely include this in the presentation.

You should have received your “Save the Date” notice on Monday June 22nd for the Hospitality Industry Icebreaker being organized by Discover the Palm Beaches which will be held at the South Florida Science Center and Aquarium in West Palm Beach on July 22nd. This is an opportunity for our club members to join hospitality friends and colleagues for a fun evening of networking. We will be hosting a booth at the event to share our Skal International information with other hospitality organizations and potential Skal members! Please make sure to register through the notice you received. Let us know if you have any questions. We could really use your help in making this a huge event for our club!

Get ready to enjoy our 5th Annual Travel & Tourism Summer Social which will be held at the Sheraton Suites – Ft Lauderdale Cypress Creek. Mark your calendars for August 19th. We will be looking for wine donations again this year for the wine pull along with auction items which you will receive a notice about shortly. The invitation to the event will go out next month. 

Please get involved in our events this summer! We really do need you to participate!

Now it is time to announce our venues for what will be outstanding fall dinner meetings:

• September 15, 2015 – we will be returning to the Waterstone Resort & Marina in Boca Raton – the members voted this our 2014 Venue of the Year.

• October 20, 2015 – thanks to Cecilia Hudnet we will be going the Chesterfield Hotel on Palm Beach

• November 17, 2015 – thanks to Erica Gregory we will be having a dinner cruise on Windridge Yachts based in Ft Lauderdale. This will be a great event to bring guests and potential members to!!

• December 16, 2015 – this is on Wednesday and we will be returning to Benvenuto’s in Boynton Beach for our annual Holiday Dinner Party and Auction.

Make sure you mark your calendars now for the 2 summer functions and for what will be 4 fun and exciting fall dinner meetings.

Let's wish our members “Happy Birthday”!

Enjoy the summer and we look forward to seeing you at the summer events.

Together in Skål,

Dick Stafford
Vice President
Skål International Ft. Lauderdale & Palm Beaches