Before you know it, my term as President of the South Florida Shomrim Society will be coming to an end. I am thankful that our organization remains strong, and continues to grow. I am grateful for the support of our officers and board of directors. There has been little or no controversy during the past few years. Now is the time to prepare for November, when the new officers take the reigns. I will take a position on the board of directors, and be there every day for our new leaders.
We have our first membership meeting of the year on February 26th at the Broward Sheriff's Office. We have invited Dr. Michael Fish with JFS Kolot, to provide us with information about domestic violence in the Jewish community. One would think that Jewish families are not affected by "DV", but it is a disease that may be happening in your neighbors' homes, and you may not be aware of it. We only hear about DV after something tragic occurs. We welcome Dr. Fish to have coffee, bagels and cake with us, and share in our kibbutz session.
Our annual picnic is on March 4th at C.B. Smith Park. We will have a great barbecue, good music, games and rides for the kids. We hope that the other charitable organizations, public safety groups and all of our friends will join us. There is no fee to join our party. We would however invite those groups or individuals who would like to advertise or contribute to offset our costs.
We are now collecting annual dues from our members. It is still only $36. The dues cover our operating expenses, and are critical to our organization. We have had good fortune in the past to have had a few major contributors which enabled us to make numerous donations to worthy causes. Due to the economic conditions, we have lost some of the support.
We are already planning for our annual dinner dance in November. We are proud to be honoring Broward's Chief Judge Peter Weinstein and Dade's Chief Judge Joel Brown. We are also going to honor our Law Enforcement Officer of the Year, and we are excited that this year's honoree will be Irv Heller, the founding member of the South Florida Shomrim Society. As you know, Irv was the Assistance Director of the Miami-Dade Police Department and Chief of North Bay Village. Irv is still a very active board member with the SFSS. This year we will be preparing an ad journal for the event. If successful, an ad journal could easily offset the costs of the dinner dance, and give us a little extra for charitable donations. If you wish to advertise your business or offer congratulations to our honorees, then contact us, and we will reserve a page for you.
There is a lot of discussion going around about Iran's threats to build nuclear weapons, additional terrorist threats around the world, and increasing anti-semitism. We need to be vigilant. We need to share information. We need to stick together as an organization. We appreciate your continued support, look forward to meeting new members and hope that you have a safe, healthy and prosperous year.
Fraternally,
Dave