THANK YOU DATAW ISLAND MEMBERS

Each holiday season, Dataw Island Members out-do themselves with appreciation for their employees. For staff, the season shifts from hosting others' parties and caring for the courses, grounds, and serving members this special week of gratitude from our members.

The celebration kicked off with the fun-filled Holiday Dinner where employees had the opportunity to meet each others' spouses and enjoy an evening of fun, food, and laughter with co-workers. A "money tree" was set up with various amounts of money that were raffled off to those lucky employees whose ticket is drawn, and this year's event also featured some great photo opps (including a Santa cutout and a photo booth!). As great as the dinner, dancing, and service awards were, admittedly the highlight for most hourly employees is receiving a handshake "thank you" and a generous check from our members who have donated to the Holiday Gift Fund, chaired by Steve and Anne Schmitt.

But the celebration didn't stop there! Employees were ushered into a stuffed Community Center Multi-Purpose Room for the extravagant Employee Holiday Luncheon, chaired by Kathy Kelenski and Marj Shymske. An abundance of delicious homemade cookies and cakes followed lunch, and hundreds of gifts lined the room (and even overflowed to the porch outside)! We took home gifts for ourselves and picked out special items to gift to loved ones, including bicycles, Kate Spade handbags, Christmas decorations, cookware, kids toys, and even gifts as unique as a sewing machine!

ALL Dataw Island employees would like to express our gratitude. THANK YOU!

Here are a few comments from attendees:

Henrietta (Accounting) - "Every year is fun! For them to recognize employees like that (even if the funds weren't as large as they were), makes it all worthy. Good love, good cheer and fun(ds)!"

Kayla (Accounting) - "The Party was great! Ted had something so nice to say about everyone and that was great too. The members are so generous at the luncheon - it's so wonderful, every time."

Rymario (Security) - "The Luncheon is always good. The food is great and the gifts are just a bonus! It's amazing what they do for us out here. Seeing people enjoy themselves - it's so wonderful - makes you want to work and do what you do."

Kelly (Extern) - "The dinner was fun! It was also really great to have fun and not have to be the one working the event."

Steph (Kitchen) - "Thank you members. I really enjoy working here. I had a lot of fun."

LaDosha (Server) - "Thank you very much for your generosity and Kindness."

Dashae (Server) - "I very much appreciate everything the members do for us. It makes you feel special knowing how much they care about the staff and what we do for them."

Holly (Marketing/Comm.) - "I am very overwhelmed with the member's generosity. It is amazing to me what they do for us out of the kindness of their hearts. A lot of work went into the Dinner and the Luncheon and I very much appreciate it. I love working here and having such thoughtful, kind members is a large part of that. Thank you!"