It's mid December and the Holiday season is approaching fast. We held our September meeting on the day of a hurricane and our December meeting on the day prior to an early major snowstorm on the East Coast. I don't know about the rest of you but I can hardly wait to see what happens for the February 19th Meeting.

On a brighter note, we have heard from our friends at the Internal Revenue Service. After much filing of paperwork, numerous phone calls and help from legal counsel they have decided that we can maintain our tax exempt status as a non profit organization. This is somewhat ironic since we're certainly not making any profits and in fact we're depleting our supply of cash quickly an attempt to stem the flow of blood we will be making a presentation at the February meeting outlining where the money is going. We are also looking at alternatives to save money such as other hotels, conference centers, banquet facilities etc. that can accommodate our needs. Another alternative is the "dreaded" increasing of dues.

The West Coast meeting in March and the Midwest meeting in April are proceeding without any issues.

Much work is being done to prepare for the next Flavor Symposium in 2004. There is a huge amount of work involved in organizing something of this nature and my personal thanks go out to the Symposium Committee and to the Board members who are helping to make this a successful event.

The results of the survey concerning the effectiveness of the Educational Program have been tabulated and were included in the last meetings minutes.

Joan Harvey has been appointed the Chairperson of the Nominating Committee. She and three other Certified members will be responsible for selecting the candidates for the new Board of Directors to be voted on in May, 2004.

Susan Lerner has been appointed to the newly created position of Meeting Co-coordinator. Susan will assist the treasurer in the organizing, planning and registration aspects of our meetings.

Dennis Kucharczyk
SFC President