The Catch. of the Day

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1 Volume 29, Number 6 JUNE 2014 The Catch FortMyersBeach.org of the Day OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF THE GREATER FORT MYERS BEACH AREA CHAMBER OF COMMERCE OFFICERS/EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE: John Gavin, Chair Gavins Ace Hardware David Anderson, Chair Elect Krusty Pete s Robb Capps, Vice Chair Florida Premier Realty Fran Podraza, Treasurer CFS Roofing Services LLC Bud Nocera, President FMB Chamber Fran Myers, Foundation Red Coconut RV Park RETIRING 31 DECEMBER 2014 Ann Alsop Associate Member Steve DeAngelis Nervous Nellies Terry Luster Kiwanis FM Gateway to the Island RETIRING 31 DECEMBER 2015 Donna Bates AAA Travel Curt Brenner Gull Wing Beach Resort Barbara Farrell iberiabank RETIRING 31 DECEMBER 2016 Jim Lambeth A Better Bugman Bob Layfield Island Sandpaper EX-OFFICIO DIRECTORS Tom Hart Legal Council Fran Myers FMB Chamber Foundation FOUNDATION BOARD DIRECTORS: John Albion Ann Alsop C21 Tripower Maryanne Baker Sunstream Realty Inc Linda Beasley Outer Island Mortgage Rob Fowler Fowler Company Ginny Smith Pink Shell Development FOUNDATION BOARD OFFICERS: Fran Myers, President Red Coconut RV Resort Meet Jerry McNulty at our June Membership Luncheon Jerry McNulty from the Lee County Sheriff's Office will be discussing crime prevention at our June Membership Luncheon. Gerald J. Jerry McNulty received a Bachelor of Science in Law Enforcement and Corrections from Penn State University in 1974, graduated the Pennsylvania State Police Academy Act 120 Program in 1975, earned a Masters Degree in Homeland Security from the American Military University in 2012; completed the Florida Attorney General Crime Prevention Practitioner Program in He joined the Lee County Sheriff s Office in 2008 as a Deputy Sheriff at the Maximum Security Main Jail in downtown Fort Myers. He transferred to the Jail Transport Unit, moving inmates to and from jails, correctional facilities and hospitals all over Florida. His current assignment is in the Community Relations Unit specializing in Crime Prevention programs. Trivia: Jerry was raised on a potato farm in western Pennsylvania; operated several family owned businesses and became a corporate pilot and flight instructor. Join us Thursday, June 12th Our Membership Luncheon will be in the morning this month to help everyone beat the traffic. Join us Thursday, March 14th at 8:30am at Charley s Boat House Grill, 6241 Estero Blvd, Fort Myers Beach for a delicious Breakfast Buffet. at 11:30am at Charley s Boat House Grill, 6241 Estero Blvd, Ft. Myers Beach, for a delicious Membership Luncheon.

2 Estero Blvd. Suite 8 Fort Myers Beach, FL Bud Nocera President Jane Ross Member Service and Volunteer Coordinator Doug McElheny Internet & Social Media Manager Pete Frye Front Desk Kathy Hanagan Roxie Donna Bates of AAA Carolyn Crosby Judy Cultice Kiwanis Club Patsy Dorsey of Fort Myers Beach Lions Club Sandy Hein Debby Kildow Elaine Moses Cheryl Nye Pam Schindler Jessica Titus of Fort Myers Beach Realty Debbie Whitehead ROXIE VOLUNTEERS Roxie Volunteer for the month of April: a tie between Sandy Hein and Judy Cultice. June 5 7:30 to 9:00 am Chamber Coffee A Tropical Touch Salon, Old McGregor Blvd. Ambassador Chamber office June 11 Executive Committee Chamber office June 12 Monthly Membership Charley s Boathouse June 18 Board of Directors Bonita Bill s Meeting Room 9:15 am 8:00 am 11:30 am to 1:00 pm 8:00 am June 19 4:00 pm to 7:00 pm Business Residence Inn Fort Myers/Sanibel Summerlin Rd. All meetings will be at the Chamber Office unless specified otherwise. Join a committee!! Call Jane Ross NEEDED Looking for people who love the Beach, love people and love to have Fun. Share your knowledge and join our volunteers in the Roxie. Still have a few shifts available. Call Jane Ross at if you can donate some of your time. THE FLOOD INSURANCE EXPERTS BIGGERT-WATERS ACT IS HERE!! See how this will affect your Flood Insurance Rates? FREE QUOTES FT. MYERS BEACH INSURANCE BROKERAGE Richard D. Karger Agency Principal Office: Cell: Fax: Richard@fmbib.com UPSTAIRS: KEY ESTERO SHOPS CALL for a FREE QUOTE Today! WE RETURN PHONE CALLS! Immediate Coverage Available! We Shop and Quote for You! l 400 Top Rated Insurance Companies l Writing the Entire State of Florida 1661 Estero Blvd. Suite 16, Ft. Myers Beach, FL HOME - FLOOD - AUTO - BOAT - COMMERCIAL-CYCLE - HEALTH -LIFE - MOBILE HOMES 2 JUNE 2014

3 May 28 5:30-7:00 pm Ribbon Cutting: Castways 7205 Estero Blvd. Free Hors d oeuvres and cash bar June 19 5:30-7:00 pm Business Expo Residence Inn Fort Myers/Sanibel Summerlin Rd. To Participate call the Chamber FUN AT YOUR FINGERTIPS LIKE NEVER BEFORE July 19 Bowling Bash at Beach Bowl Information to follow Find the fun all in one place Check out the most comprehensive source for Southwest Florida s entertainment hot spots. PARADISE HAS NEVER BEEN SO COOL. Download today! We are proud and honored to be your trusted hometown source CELEBRATING 13 YEARS Extraordinary Eventz We are excited and proud to announce the 10 year anniversary of Extraordinary Eventz on June 1, 2014! Ten years of excellent service in celebrating corporate events, private parties and weddings! Extraordinary Eventz specializes in all special occasions, anniversaries, festivities, milestones, accomplishments, celebrations and more. I would like to introduce to you, the owner of Extraordinary Eventz, Ms. Lisa Reece. Lisa was born and raised in Atlanta, Georgia. A true Georgia peach! Early on she was exposed to the graciousness of southern hospitality, tradition and etiquette. This is when the seed of appreciation was planted for the art of entertaining and event planning! Ms. Reece's career has consisted of extensive experience in the event planning, hospitality and travel industries. She has over 30 years experience in working with and planning for group events! Lisa has performed for decades as a party planner, wedding planner and as a corporate meeting planner. Ms. Reece has experience in both the non profit and for profit areas as well as success in working with government organizations, local and national associations, corporations and social groups. Extraordinary Eventz, a completely full service event planning company, would like to offer you assistance with any services you may need for your next special occasion! The priorities are to save you time, stress and get you the best value for your dollar while working within your budget! Extraordinary Eventz can provide any one or all of the following services for you: Consulting On site coordination Budget Planning Travel Arrangements: Air/ Hotel Officiant Services Customized Ceremony and Vows Catering Music/Entertainment of all kinds Florals Decor/Design Rentals Photography/Videography Specialty Cakes Theme Attire Spa/Salon Services Transportation: cars-limos- carriages Guest Gift Baskets Guest Outings: Golf, Fishing, Shelling, Site Seeing, Boating, Historic Tours, Etc. Shopping Services- Party gifts, Etc. Printing: Invitations/ Programs/ Address /Post Invitations For just one detail or everything from beginning to end, for your next event... Large or small one call does it all, to EXTRAORDINARY EVENTZ! JUNE

4 By Bud Nocera It s hard to believe it was just two years ago that I returned to Southwest Florida to take the command of this chamber. Time has flown by and much has been accomplished in the 24 months, yet I see work that remains to be done. Let s look at both. But before we do, let s make one thing very clear: any success we have seen and the changes we have made were the result of the hard work of this Chamber s staff, Board of Directors, volunteers and members. That I have been a part of it has been a wonderful experience, but all credit goes to those who wanted to see the changes implemented and improvements made to this Chamber. Job #1 when I arrived was to get the Chamber in better financial shape. Today, again thanks to the hard work of many people, we are in very much better shape than we were in June of Having said that, I must also say this is still a work in progress. We have rightsized in terms of staff and overhead. We have increased our income, cut expenses and used the difference to pay off debt. My personal, unspoken goal back in 2012 was to have this Newsletter Ads $50-1/8 page $75-1/4 page $100-1/2 page President s Report: Two Years Chamber debt-free by the end of the 2014, and able to live within its means. We are now living within our means and I believe it is very possible to achieve the debt-free goal by year s end. To get to this point was not easy, and even painful. There were difficult decisions that had to be made. There have been times when I have wondered how we would make payroll. But, knock on wood, it is working. Job #2 was to add value to chamber membership. Like our finances, we have come a long way but we still have room to improve. The first part of adding value was to put our members out in front. It began with changes to our web site, social media and making the Chamber more visitor information oriented. Fort Myers Beach is the largest single visitor destination in SW Florida. Our job is to help those visitors connect to our local businesses and make our local business s cash registers ring. (For those under 50 who are reading this, once upon a time cash registers had a small bell connected to the mechanism so every time a sale was rung up, the bell rang.) We started with a Chamber web site that saw about 1,000 visitors a month. Today well over 15,000 Affordable Member-2-Member Adveritsing Best Deal $150 / INSERT (up to 8.5 x 11 ) For more details, call: Fort Myers Beach Chamber of Commerce at come to the web site for visitor information. We have an active Facebook and Twitter presence that put our Chamber members out in front of our visitors. The idea of a mobile visitor information center was taken from concept to reality in the first year. Value has been added providing a direct link between beach businesses and potential or actual visitors. The Chamber has begun to take a higher and more active role within the community. A good example of this work is your Chamber president being present at most Town Council meetings and workshops to represent the interests of the beach business community. It is simply a traditional and correct role for a Chamber of Commerce. But it adds value for our members to have them know there is a person at these meetings who, along with the elected and appointed officials, will represent the interests of the business community. Please do not misunderstand my statements. I strongly believe our Town Council and Town Manager very much have our island business s needs at heart. But is always good for us to be there to provide insight or input when asked or when appropriate. We have also teamed up with Florida Gulf Coast University to bring to beach business owners small business seminars and expertise either free or at small cost. Again, the goal is to bring value to membership investment. This Chamber has made some great progress in the past two years. But it is and perhaps always will be a work-in-progress as we move toward making the Chamber a valued institution within the community and a real value to its members. With your help and input we will keep the positive changes and tweaks coming, ever improving the Fort Myers Beach Chamber of Commerce in the years to come. Have News? Anything New and Noteworthy going on in your office? New employee? New Rep? Move? Please jane@fmbchamber.com or call us at so that we can make note and update our file. 4 JUNE 2014

5 Joy Peoples AND Alex Frankian The Hospitality Heroes Program was an idea born from the management at Best Western Plus Beach Resort and grew with the sponsorship of The Greater Fort Myers Beach Area Chamber of Commerce with partners; Island Sand Paper, Fish Tale Marina, Smokin Oyster Brewery, Yucatan Beach Stand, Lighthouse Resort & Tiki Bar, Shipwreck Hotel, Matanzas on the Bay, Beach Pierside Grill, Sunstream Resorts and Gavin s Ace Hardware. It was formed to recognize top-notch hospitality service to residents and visitors during peak visitor season. April was such a busy month that there were two honored at the Membership Lunch on May 8 at Charley s Boathouse. Joy Peoples is shown receiving her check for $ from Chamber President Bud Nocera. Joy serves at the front desk of welcoming guests at the Best Western Plus Beach Resort and is recognized for her friendly exceptional and helpful service. Joy was execptional! She greeted us upon check-in with a smile and offered suggestions for sight-seeing and culinary options wrote one guest. It seems like she never left the hotel, as any small question I had she was there to answer very quickly, efficiently and professionally wrote another. Alex Frankian is a Captain with Jet Boat Fun and was nominated by Captain Dan Mendat who is impressed by Capt. Alex s customer service. Capt. Alex is shown receiving his check for $ by his jet boat from Chamber President Bud Nocera with Capt. Dan and Diane Mendat. Capt. Dan said; His frontline customer service continues to blow me away daily. His ability to interact with customers and make them feel safe and secure on our extreme thrill ride is top shelf. With over 470 rides personally captained by him this last year and over 4,000 passengers, he has exemplified what it means to be in the tourism and attraction business here in Fort Myers Beach. Fran Podraza CFS Roofing Services (CHAIR) Debra Anderson Universal Vacations Robb Capps Premier Florida Realty Wayne Gibson R & W Gibson Promotional Products Jaime Huffman Pieces of Eight Pirate Cruise Denice Knudsen Premier Florida Realty Sandy Lepley Century 21 Tripower Wanda Linatsas Royal Scoop Ice Cream Barb Rich VIP Vacations Jane Ross Jan Ruhstorfer VIP Vacations Scott Safford The Sea Gypsy Inn Charles Stallings Hampton Inn & Suites Eric Tibbs Edward Jones & Co. Ambassador for the month of April was Fran Podraza. Chamber President Bud Nocera presents Joy Peoples her Hospitality Hero check. Left to right is Capt. Dan Mendat, Diane Mendat, Capt. Alex Frankian, and Chamber President Bud Nocera. Hospitality Heros is sponsored by Island Sand Paper and Fort Myers Beach Chamber of Commerce. JUNE

6 19th Annual Taste of the Beach Winners Best Appetizer Yucatan Beach Stand (Blackened Shrimp Skewers) Castaway s Bar and Grill (Grilled Grouper Cakes) tied with Beach Bums (Cheesy Bum Bites with Marinara Sauce) Skip One Seafoods (Steamed Shrimp) Best Entree Yucatan Beach Stand (Pork Osso Bucco) Skip One Seafoods (Fried Shrimp) Bongo s at the Pink Shell (Crab Cakes) Winner Of The People's Choice... Skip One Seafood.. Photos by Jane Ross Best Dessert Royal Scoop (Ma s Bread Pudding Sundae topped with Rum Raisin Ice Cream) Yucatan Beach Stand (Kim s Famous Key Lime Pie) Bongo s at the Pink Shell (Key Lime Pie Mini Delights) Best Decorated Booth Parrot Key Caribbean Grill Yucatan Beach Stand People s Choice Skip One Seafoods Nervous Nellie s Crazy Waterfront Eatery Yucatan Beach Stand Server Competition Yucatan Beach Stand (1:20.5) Nemo s on the Beach (1:37.1) Big Game Waterfront Grill (1:56.4) 6 JUNE 2014

7 Membership Luncheon May 8 Membership Lunch at Charley's Boathouse: (left to right) Chairman of the Board John Gavin of Gavin's Ace Hardware, new member Ken Dixon of Gulfview Manor Resort and Chamber President Bud Nocera. Ray Judah was the guest speaker at the Chamber Membership lunch on May 8th. Ray spoke on behalf of Land & Water issues affecting Southwest Florida and our beaches. Chamber Board Member Bob Layfield, Publisher of the Island Sandpaper presents Darby Doerzbacher, President of the Fort Myers Beach Lions Club, a check as a contribution from sales of advertising of the Lions Shrimp Festival official program. Bob and his wife, Editor Missy Layfield, were guests at the May 8th Lions Club Meeting. Coffee Connection Enjoying Chamber fellowship at Good Time Charters Coffee Connection is Donna Fagan of SPD Solutions, Inc., and Board Member Terry Luster of Kiwanis Fort Myers Gateway to the Islands. The Fort Myers Beach Chamber of Commerce held its monthly Chamber Coffee Connection on Thursday May 1 at Good Time Charters, located at Snook Bight Marina. Chamber Chairman of the Board John Gavin of Gavin's Ace Hardware chats with Hostess Cristina Denegre. JUNE

8 Nellie s Upstairs Waterside Bar Where it s Happy Hour all the time!!! FREE MARINA DOCKAGE with Dock Attendant s Assistance Lunch Dinner Snacks in Between Award-Winning Restaurant Best Lunch Best Casual Dining Best Waterfront Dining Best Place for Live Music Chamber Members receive 15% Off your Whole Guest Check ONE COUPON PER TABLE Can not be used with any other offer. 18% Gratuity may be added to bill before discount. 11am - 10pm, Expires Aug 1st, st St., Ft. Myers Beach GPS Coordinates: N W