PRESIDENT'S CORNER

Fellow Skalleagues:

What a tacky wacky fun evening together at Bahama Breeze.  I was so impressed with the fun tacky tourist costumes you all thought up and want to congratulate Cynthia Dominic for winning our “Tacky Tourist” competition.  The food was fantastic and we really loved the new pre-function space outdoors that Eric Class dreamt up and brought to life.

Allow me to welcome our newest club members:

• Scott Campbell, Largo Mattress (supplier)

We welcome you to our SKAL family.  As we aim to continue to grow our reach and incorporate more professionals from around the Tampa Bay Area, your board of directors will provide an email template and materials to share.  We encourage you to think about those in your network that would benefit from this organization and invite them to pay us a visit.  The list of approved member categories and upcoming venues can be found on our website at www.skaltampabay.com.

As was shared last night, in addition to doing business among friends, there are many additional benefits to being a member of SKAL.  One of which is access to the International Directory of SKAL members from all over the globe!  When you are traveling, whether for work or personal, you are encouraged to reach out to the Skalleagues at those locations and even attend a local SKAL meeting if your schedule permits! Be sure to snap photos together for promotion with our SKAL family.

On a more serious note, we took time to pay tribute to the loss and incredible life of a regular guest of ours, Wendy Barmore.  She was such a community ambassador, talented musician, and all around fabulous hospitality professional.  She will be dearly missed.  No arrangements have been announced at this time but we will send out notification once they have been published.

We welcome all of you to Save-the-Date for our next meeting taking place April 17 at Aspirations Winery – followed by karaoke so come prepared to sing your heart out!

Thank you for your trust in and contribution to SKAL Tampa Bay.  Let’s continue doing business amongst friends.

Kristina Park

President

PRESIDENT'S CORNER

Fellow Skalleagues:

Thanks to everyone who joined us Monday December 12 at the Winter Wonderland in Clearwater. Lisa Mansell and her staff did a wonderful job of setting up the park and we were thrilled to be greeted upon our arrival by the Christmas Carolers. It was tough not to get filled up with the baked brie and Charcuterie board, but somehow, we all managed to save room for the magnificent dinner buffet and sweets for dessert. Thanks again to Lisa and her staff for a fabulous evening!

Thanks to everyone who brought girlfriends, boyfriends, significant others, and guests to the meeting. It was nice to see those new faces, hopefully we’ll see some of them again as new members in 2023! And speaking of members, let’s congratulate our winners of the membership contest for 2022. With five new members brought into SKAL Tampa Bay in 2022, our winner is Sonny Flynn!!   Sonny will receive free SKAL registration and meals in 2023. Our runner up was Oliver Kugler who received a gift certificate for a group wine tasting event for 12 people. CONGRATULATIONS to both Sonny and Oliver. New membership is the life blood of our organization, thank you to everyone who brought guests to our meetings and to everyone who brought a new member in.  Let’s keep up the great work next year.

Steven put together a great silent auction once again, and we raised $13,894.25 – a record breaking year.   Thanks to everyone for participating. We didn’t have a wine pull this year, but we did have 22 bottles of wine that we gave away – congratulations to all the winners. 

Every year we appeal to our membership to sponsor a young SKAL professional. Many of our young SKAL professionals’ organizations don’t have the funding to sponsor them, so we ask our membership to consider underwriting a young SKAL professional for $175 (or more), which covers their dues to SKAL. We need young SKAL members to join our great organization and industry and your help is greatly appreciated. Contact Steven if you would like to help. Steven@SWRandAssociates.com

Our next meeting, and installation dinner announcing next year’s President and Board is January 9th at the Dolphin Beach Resort – thanks to Oliver for setting up the meeting at his venue.  The invitation should be out any day now, so be on the lookout and be sure to register.  Oliver is offering special overnight $99 rates at the Dolphin for Sunday and Monday nights. Please call Oliver at 727-363-2431 between 9am-5pm prior to Friday, January 6, 2023, to make your reservation. February’s meeting is still in the works, but March is confirmed for Bahama Breeze – you have plenty of advance notice to get your Tacky Tourist wardrobe ready!

Please consider saying “Thank You” to the venues we visit - one way is through social media, so as promised, please find social media sites here. Our venue this month at Winter Wonderland has been operating as a charity fund raiser since 1993 to raise money for Pinellas County families. Entrance to Winter Wonderland is free but they ask visitors to bring a non-perishable food item and/or an unwrapped toy, which many of us did at our meeting. The toys and canned goods are donated to local area charities, such as the Homeless Emergency Project sponsored by Everybody’s Tabernacle. If you would like to comment about your experience there, please write your comments on their Facebook Page - https://www.facebook.com/winterwonderlandclearwater

Yes, it’s time to begin our fundraising for 2023 – we are always looking for donations to offer as raffle prizes at our monthly meetings. The raffles every month help keep our membership rates down and contribute to our Young SKAL program as well as other charitable initiatives.  Please consider helping our efforts. Donations can be sent to our Executive Secretary Treasurer at    Skal Tampa Bay, c/o Steven Rodriguez, 18400 Gulf Blvd. Unit 1105 Indian Shores, FL 33785 or contact Steven at Steven@SWRandAssociates.com 

Finally, December will be my last full month as your President.  I have thoroughly enjoyed my time as your President and want to thank each and every one of the Board for your assistance and patience during my learning process. Thanks to the efforts of every single Club member, our organization continued to see excellent growth, and although we did not win Club of the Year for 2022, we were one of a handful of Clubs in the world to be invited to apply – an honor very few Clubs enjoy.   It was a pleasure meeting all our new members in 2022, and I am thankful for the time I spent getting to know everyone in our Club. I’m looking forward to a great 2023 and beyond. Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and safe and prosperous New Year.

Here’s to Happiness! Good Health! Friendship! Long Life – SKAL!

Respectfully, 

Mike Gruendel

PRESIDENT'S CORNER

Fellow Skalleagues:

Can we all agree that July's dinner at Splitsville was loads of fun? What an amazing venue for a casual, laid back down home experience.

The food was fantastic. Comfort food at its finest. What's not to love about deep fried chicken, momma's mac n cheese, cheddar cheese drop biscuits, pulled pork and shrimp and grits? And that was just the dinner selections. 

Appetizers consisted of fried green tomatoes, honey chicken and biscuit, bbq chicken flatbread and delicious cheese burger sliders. 

Add southern house salad and slaw, homemade doughnuts and chocolate chip cookies and you will have to take a notch out of your belt buckle. 

Congrats to the top two Bowlers of the evening, Cameron and Chris. Hope you enjoyed your prize. Our worst bowler of the evening got a prize as well. Did you tank it on purpose Sarah? :-) 

Huge thank you to the team at Splitsville for a most memorable night! You all were great!

There is no meeting in August so our next meeting will be Tuesday, September 14th at Island Way Grill. Expect another exceptional dinner and experience. Registration is now open. 

Here’s to Happiness! Good Health! Friendship! Long Life – SKAL!

Respectfully, 

Steven Rodriguez 

RAFFLE ITEMS NEEDED!!!!

We are still collecting raffle items for our upcoming meetings and we appreciate the generosity of all who have and continue to give. Mail any items to:

Skal Tampa Bay, c/o Steven Rodriguez, 18400 Gulf Blvd. #1105 Indian Shores, FL 33785

Here’s to Happiness! Good Health! Friendship! Long Life – SKAL!

PRESIDENT'S CORNER

Fellow Skalleagues:

We had a fantastic evening at the brand new Aloft-Element Tampa Midtown this month.

The property is beautiful with some awesome features like their rooftop pool, restaurant, bar and meeting space. It is a great venue for any occasion. 

Special thanks to Jo Dee Colonius for making our visit so memorable. We really enjoyed the tours you and Nancy Jennings took our group on

The food and beverages were delicious. Presentation was spot on and the management and staff looked after our every need. Kudos to the Chef. 

Next month we will visit one of our favorite venues, Bahama Breeze, Tampa Airport where we will once again dress in our tackiest tourist outfits (if you dare) or best tropical attire. This is always a fun filled event with a laid back vibe.  Registration is open now so be sure to register.

RAFFLE ITEMS NEEDED!!!!

We are still collecting raffle items for our upcoming meetings and we appreciate the generosity of all who have and continue to give. Mail any items to:

Skal Tampa Bay, c/o Steven Rodriguez, 18400 Gulf Blvd. #1105 Indian Shores, FL 33785

Here’s to Happiness! Good Health! Friendship! Long Life – SKAL!

Respectfully, 

Steven Rodriguez

PRESIDENT'S CORNER

Fellow Skalleagues:

New Year, New SKAL Board, Renewed Energy and Renewed Hope for a Fantastic 2021!!

Thank you to Belleair Country Club for hosting our 62nd Anniversary Installation and Past Presidents Banquet. 

I hope you all enjoyed the excellent service, delicious food, tasty beverages and music stylings of Michael Scaglione all evening in the beautiful main dining room. 

Special Thank You to our host - Ed Shaughnessy and to our Mistress of Ceremony - Holly Powers. 

It is an honor to serve as your President and I thank all of you who attended and/or sent congratulatory well wishes.

Our Industry has and continues to weather challenging times during this pandemic but hope shines bright and I am confident we will continue to rebound and thrive in 2021. 

I welcome our new Officers and Board of Directors who have graciously volunteered their expertise and assistance for this new year. 

Thank you to all who have renewed their membership for 2021 and welcome to all of our new members! I am excited as to what this year holds for our growing and enduring Club.

I want to Thank You all for staying the course, for staying engaged with SKAL, and for continuing to encourage and promote one another.  

Don't miss our next meeting being held at the new Karol Hotel in Feather Sound. I am so looking forward to it.

We are collecting raffle items for our upcoming meetings and we appreciate your generosity. Mail any items to:

Skal Tampa Bay, c/o Steven Rodriguez, 19713 Gulf Blvd. Indian Shores, FL 33785

Here’s to Happiness! Good Health! Friendship! Long Life – SKAL!

Respectfully, 

Steven Rodriguez