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President’s Corner April 2017
April’s meeting at Florida Aquarium was fantastic! Much thanks to Lorrie Hero, her staff and the Aramark staff for a great evening. It was great to have Gregg Nicklaus back with us and true to his word, he generated excitement with securing the winning bid for The Epicurean package and kicking off the efforts of the next 30 days to assist our Young Skal members on the expenses of attending the NASC in Toronto. We pinned Lorrie Hero (welcome back!), Angel Hubaykah and Kristina Alspaw Monday evening as new members. Congrats to Angel’s Mom, Tina, on winning the 50/50 raffle!
During our May meeting at Bon Appetit in Dunedin, we will be raising funds for our Young SKAL initiative to go to NASC this year with a “rising star” auction like we did last year at the May 2016 meeting at Sirata Beach Resort. As I mentioned Monday night, please send whatever items you can (with values noted) to my attention at TradeWinds or contact a board member that may be close to your establishment for pickup. Our goal is to have 100 items available for the event.
We have re-scheduled the First Annual Young SKAL Fishing Trip to Sunday, 4/30/17. Thank you in advance to the Hubbards Marina for working with us so generously on this. 60% of the cost will be donated to Young SKAL. An announcement went out this morning with all the details but in summary, the cost is $65 per person, registration at 12 noon, pre-boarding at 12:30pm and departure at 1pm for one hour of travel each way and 3 hours of fishing. Please RSVP by this Sun. 4/16 if possible so we can assist Hubbard’s with committing to the right vessel and maximizing their booking opportunities. Bring your family, bring your friends, bring strangers and enjoy the afternoon….we can be tourists in our own town for a day! Call 727-393-1947 and use Y.Skal Fundraiser to reserve your tickets today!
In closing, I would like to thank Gregg Nicklaus again for enlightening us more on the life and career accomplishments of Pinellas County tourism pioneer, Mr. Sam Johns. Please see below for more details of his contributions throughout his life to SKAL and the Tampa Bay region.
We look forward to seeing you at Bon Appetit on 5/8, plan ahead for 6/12’s meeting at The Bay Club at Westshore Yacht Club and our July lunch meeting and Golf Tourney at Belleair CC on 7/24!
Best Skal regards!
George Bentley
IN MEMORIAM
Sam John’s
It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of Skål Tampa Bay Past President Samuel Charles Johns. Sam passed peacefully surrounded by his family.
Sam was a leading force behind tourism in Pinellas County as President of Discover Florida Suncoast and was instrumental in developing Tampa Bay as an international tourist destination. Sam was a longtime member of Skål Tampa Bay, served as President, and was fondly known as “Mr. Skal”. He was our only member to move into a National Skal position where he was honored as President of Skal International U.S.A. (SIUSA) 1999-2000.
RIP SAM!!
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