April Newsletter

Good afternoon dear friends, 

I want to say hello to all of you and I hope that you and your loved ones are in good health and spirit.

This month is different. We will not be meeting in April. The renewal and officer elections have been postponed until further notice. 

In all honesty, I do miss you all. I wanted to put together a few lines to let you know that we are a family, and I am thinking of you all during this time. I’ll do what I can to share with you some lighter news and hopefully cheer you up. 

While all gatherings and events have been suspended with good reason, many of the local natural parks are open. Check the Parks and Recreation website for your county. They offer us an opportunity to exercise, breathe, and clear our minds.

Here in Orange county, the beautiful Bill Frederick Park at Turkey Lake is open and waiving the admission fee – now is a wonderful opportunity to go and get out of the house while maintaining a healthy social distance.

If you have started missing the classic Orlando that we took for granted, you can try more than 20 virtual experiences online. From theme parks to arts and culture, take a look at “Visit Orlando” – the official website is linked here:https://www.visitorlando.com/en/blog/post/orlando-virtual-experiences

Mount Dora is going virtual with Their art show, and a “QuaRANtine 5K”.  Registration can be done on their website. Run or walk on your own and at your leisure. Submit your time and, and you even get a medal in the mail.http://cityofmountdora.com/CivicAlerts.aspx?AID=918T

Their art show takes place on their Facebook page. Eighty artists present 200 works on the Recreation departments Facebook page. Another show is planned for May. https://www.facebook.com/pg/CityOfMountDoraRecreation/photos/

This month on the 25th, the Manatee Appreciation Day will take place virtually. Watch and learn about these gentle mammals on the Blue Springs State Park website: https://www.floridastateparks.org/learn/webcam-watch-manatees-swim-0

Let’s use this time to look inward and to ponder where we would like to be further down the line. It’s a good opportunity for an adjustment, or maybe even a complete change. We can grow and nourish the artistic side of us that we did not know we had. We can use some time to sharpen our skills – update resumes or refresh networking accounts. The hospitality industry and all prospective employers are getting ready to call us all back, and their expectations will be higher. Find a free Microsoft course of your choosing, or a foreign language to perfect or learn from scratch. There are some educational webinars in many fields that can be found online. Be patient in your pursuit and don’t give up – there are many of us trying to register for things like this. The websites are getting a lot of traffic, so just keep trying.

Alex Lum, our treasurer, shared this link with me:https://www.ahlafoundation.org. The Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton was offering a Hospitality Certificate. Due to the unexpected number of applicants you may be on a waitlist for the next opportunity.

The members of the board send their good wishes to you. Just like all of us some are still working from home, some promoting their personal business and some on the front line taking care of the community. After our last meeting on Monday we are considering setting up a virtual meeting or a large conference call, maybe a Zoom or Meet to see how everyone is doing. Please forward or share this news with colleagues and friends of the Association who do not have email access and send us an alternative email (other than work) for further communication to: Membership@centralfloridaconcierge.org.

Have you learned anything during this time that you’d like to share with us? Whether it be books, movies, Netflix, games. Have you participated in any virtual meetings with others? Would you like to show your art or those masks that some handy seamstresses are creating? Let us know!

Personally, I’ve taken up walking, and it has helped me to start my day and feel better about it. I’m working with Carmen to post some pictures of the nature trails, and I’ll be happy to share a recipe for a delicious soup with you. Here is the link to the beautiful pictures I have compiled: https://photos.app.goo.gl/W8WuZYyTwJgQXNDC9

For our volunteer opportunity on May 5th at Second Harvest, we still have two slots available.

If you decide to share your talent, we will display it on our website! Send to Conciergecorrespondence@gmail.com We are all tired of news and TV anyway. Please check our website frequently, as our plan is to use it as a tool to communicate. We would like to share opportunities to better ourselves and to maintain hope and circulate positive energy until this is over.

Warmest regards and always at your service,

Nekane Alvarez

President, Central Florida Concierge Association