2nd Annual Santa Send-Off



Santa Clause



At 10am on December 24^th, Santa Clause entered the main lobby of the Grande Villas Resort to the sound of children chanting his name. He received applause as he took his seat and quickly a line of children formed around him. While he listened to gift requests and posed for pictures, guests of the resort enjoyed some delicious Christmas treats. Songs were sung and holiday stories were exchanged. What a wonderful way to start the holiday!







Christmas Treats!



The Annual Grande Villas Santa Send-Off

Join us in the main lobby December 24th at 10am as we wish Santa "bon voyage" for his trip around the world! We will an assortment of donuts and fresh fruit to snack while our guest of honor poses for pictures. Bring the whole family as this will be a morning to remember!

Two New Front Desk Team Members!

A perfect fit for the World Golf Village! Golf enthusiast, Dexter Derr, has joined the Front Desk team at The Grande Villas. Originally from Pennsylvania, Dex became a golf fan at an early age. His first job was as a maintenance worker for a local golf course. With a warm smile and friendly demeanor, Dex is a welcomed addition to our team!

We would also like to welcome Lyne Bickerstaff to the Front Desk! Lyne loves to travel, which makes working for Bluegreen ideal. Originally from Chicago, Lyne is still getting used to this Florida weather. In her spare time, you can find Lyne curled up with a good book. Welcome to our team, Lyne!

 

Let’s welcome Dex and Lyne to the Grande Villas family!

St. Augusitne's 17th Annual Nights of Lights

Millions of white lights create a magical holiday atmosphere in the Nation's oldest city during the 17th Annual Nights of Lights Celebration in St. Augustine, Florida. Tracing its origins to the Spanish tradition of displaying a lighted white candle during the Christmas holidays, the spectacular lighting reflects the city's 445-year history while creating a beautiful setting for special memories.

A dazzling array of special events and activities await visitors. Nighttime tours of ancient buildings and inns led by storytellers in period clothing, rollicking train and trolley tours through the narrow brick streets, art walks featuring more than 30 galleries serving free holiday refreshments on the First Friday in December and January, special Saturday night antique shopping events, a dazzling regatta, Florida ice skating, luminaries in the town plaza, holiday concerts, even a Christmas parade are among the special events to be added to the memory books of visitors and residents alike.

The Nights of Lights will sparkle in St. Augustine through January 31.

For more information, Click Here.

The Grande Villas get Basics First Aid and CPR training

Several of us were given a course in Basic First Aid and CRP training which I was hoping we would never have to use!  We first went over basic first aid which means the immediate care that you give someone with an illness or injury before trained help arrives and takes over.  That could be and EMS responder, nurse or doctor.  Your actions during these first minutes of an emergency can be critical.  What you do may help a victim recover more quickly.  The usual first aid you will give is for minor illnesses or injuries.  But you may have to do first aid for more serious problems, such as a heart attack or major bleeding.  By knowing what to do, you could make a big difference in someones life! 

We were all shown the steps to take to perform CPR on someone.  Everyone was given a dummy to practice on and yes we did name them! (I am not at liberty to share these names with anyone!) Each of us was given a chance to show off what we learned and how much we comprehended which was a lot of fun. 

All of our dummies survived and will go on to live the best life a dummy can have! We learned the importance of having an AED (automated external defibrillator) and how to use it in the event someone might be having a heart attack.  The class was fun and I think we all walked away with more knowledge of First Aid and CPR. 

I did mention that I hoped I would never have to use anything I learned but the very next day we had a guest collapse at the front desk and Karen Morris and I jumped into action.  Since we knew what to do and what questions to ask we were able to help our guest until the EMT’s arrived.  So a BIG thanks to our instructor Mark for giving me the knowledge of what to do! 

So if you’re at the Grande Villas at World Golf Village in St Augustine rest assure that our employees have your back!
 
~~Written By Mary Quiroga~~

New to the Front Desk....

Melissa Jiminez brings her bright smile and perky personality to the Grande Villas as our newest Front Desk Associate. Melissa, who is originally from New Jersey, is currently studying international studies at the University of North Florida. When not at work, you can find her spending time at the beach, but don’t let her love of the sun fool you. She still holds onto her northern roots by cheering for the New York Giants and, of course, the Yankees!

Grande Villas has also taken in an “exchange” associate! Diane Brooks has come to join our team during the renovations of Casa Del Mar in Ormond Beach. Diane has worked in the hospitality industry for years working at resorts, cruise ships, restaurants and even as a stewardess! Originally from New Zealand, Diane likes to stay in shape by walking and working out and has a talent for needlepoint.

Let’s welcome these two to the Grande Villas Family!

Showing off our GREEN side!

The Colorful Ways to Play theme for the month of September was "Going Green" and boy were we excited! There was just one problem, we were already green, and so we couldn't "go" anywhere! Instead, we decided to show it off. All of the employees wore pins with messages about what we do to stay green everyday and ways to help. By sharing facts like "We recycle paper, glass, plastic and cardboard and have recycling bins in each building" as well as "We reduce waste and water usage by having a linen reuse program" we are not only informing everyone of what we do, we are also giving them the knowledge of how!

Over Labor Day Weekend, we had a "Save the Swamps" party where guests had the chance to participate in fun and eco-friendly games as well as dance and let loose!

Code Adam @ Grande Villas

Code Adam is a "missing child" safety program in the United States and Canada, originally created by Wal-Mart retail stores in 1994. It is named in memory of Adam Walsh, the 6-year-old son of John Walsh (the host of Fox's America's Most Wanted.). Adam was abducted from a Sears department store in Florida in 1981 and was later found murdered. Today, many department stores, retail shops, shopping malls, supermarkets, amusement parks, and museums participate in the Code Adam program. Legislation enacted by Congress in 2003 now mandates that all federal office buildings employ the program.

Companies that do implement the program generally place a Code Adam decal at the front of the business. Employees at these businesses are trained to do the following six steps according to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children:

• If a visitor reports a child is missing, a detailed description of the child and what he or she is wearing is obtained. Additionally, all exterior access to the building is locked and monitored; anyone approaching a door is turned away.

• The employee goes to the nearest in-house telephone and pages Code Adam, describing the child’s physical features and clothing. As designated employees monitor front entrances, other employees begin looking for the child.

• If the child is not found within 10 minutes, law enforcement is called.

• If the child is found and appears to have been lost and unharmed, the child is reunited with the searching family member.

• If the child is found accompanied by someone other than a parent or legal guardian, reasonable efforts to delay their departure will be used without putting the child, staff, or visitors at risk. Law enforcement will be notified and given details about the person accompanying the child.

The Code Adam page will be canceled after the child is found or law enforcement arrives.

We had a Code Adam here at Grande Villas on Saturday, September 25th. The guest was leaving, so there door was left ajar on the 1st floor. Their one year old got out crawled down the hall and up three flights of stairs. The parents were frantic and came to the front desk where Denise Abreu, a Front Desk Supervisor, made the call over the radio. Within seconds the entire building was surrounded by grounds, engineers, and public area employees, and within five minutes Taiwan Bryant, Public Area Supervisor, found the little boy. We are all very proud of the quick response, and of course that everything worked out well.

Association Owned Weeks for Sale

The Board of Directors recently held a special meeting in which they decided to sell the current Association owned inventory at highly discounted prices. This offer is being made to reduce the cost burden on the Association (all owners) and increase maintenance fee revenues; therefore, it is currently only extended to our owners in good standing, your friends and/or family. If you refer anyone to purchase, they must provide your name when calling.

The current weeks available are listed below, and subject to floating use (“first come, first served”) during the “High” or “Prime” seasons. In accordance with your governing documents, “Prime” weeks are defined as and include the use of weeks 5-36, 40-47 and 51-52; whereas “High” weeks are defined as and include the use of weeks 1-47, 37-39 and 48-50. In addition, the current weeks available have usage rights in either “annual” (every year) or “biennial” (every other year in either odd of even years), and pricing was determined accordingly. Please consider these factors when determining which will best accommodate your vacation needs. Occupancy of these unit/weeks will not be available until 2011 after the maintenance fee is paid. We have included the proposed maintenance fees for 2011 in the block below (not due until January 1, 2011). The time to process the full transaction will take between 8 to 16 weeks to finalize. 

.  The current weeks available are as follows:

The Board has appointed Julie Clawson, Association Administrator, as the contact person to initiate the process. You can call Julie at 386-586-0887. Please note, Julie often travels for business, so if you don’t get a return call immediately, be patient, as she will return your call in the order in which received.

New Wristbands

Grande Villas is unveiling a new line of wristbands on Friday, September 3rd! These wristbands make a great fashion statement either while lounging by the pool or enjoying a game of sand volleyball. To get yours, stop by the front desk. If you wish to purchase these wristbands and show your Grande Villas pride, it is only $5 for 4 bands! All monies collected will be donated to the Bluegreen Charity of the month, so not only can you look good, you can do good.

Building 2 Update

Starting August 16th, Building 2 will be shut down for some routine maintenance. During this time, all of the walkways in this building will be having a special non-slip finish put on them, general repairs and updates will be done and all of the rooms will be deep cleaned. The building should be up and running again by the end of the month. Special thanks to Chief Engineer Ken Shumate and his entire engineering team for all of their hard work!

Zumba!

Looking for a fun way to work out? Join Jihan and the Grande Villas crew Thursday’s at 7pm during the month of August for a Zumba workout! Zumba fuses hypnotic Latin rhythms and easy-to-follow moves to create a one-of-a-kind fitness program that will blow you away. We want you to want to work out, to love working out, to get hooked. Zumba® Fanatics achieve long-term benefits while experiencing an absolute blast in one exciting hour of calorie-burning, body-energizing, awe-inspiring movements meant to engage and captivate for life!

Below are pictures from out first Zumba Thursday. Everyone had a great time and burned plenty of calories! We look forward to seeing you next time!

Quarterly Growth Awards

On July 28th, Grande Villas celebrated our quarterly GROWTH awards ceremony. The GROWTH awards are to recognize employees for their outstanding performance. A committee made up of managers chooses one employee from each department based on their work ethics and documented involvement with the guests as quarterly winners. Each winner is then nominated for a company GUNG-HO award. This quarter’s winners were Gerald McKenna from Marketing, Taiwan Bryant from Public Areas, Issai Mladenov from Engineering, Glenda Maldonado from Housekeeping and Brett Williams from Front Desk. Congratulations to all of the winners!

Growth Awards Committee

New In-House Marketing Manager

Congratulations are in order for our new In-house Marketing Manager, Gerald McKenna! This sales and marketing all-star started back in October of 2004 as a sales associate. He quickly became the Call Center Manager in June 2005 before making his way to an In-house marketer in January 2009. Jerry has long been a favorite among co-workers and guests alike and I think we are all happy and proud to see him get this well deserved promotion.

Congrats Jerry!

The Golf Guy Visits Grande Villas

A recent visit to the Grande Villas made headlines! The Golf Channel encourages its members to write about their golf travel experiences and a man who goes by the name of "The Golf Guy" did just that. Along with staying at our resort, he visited some of the local area golf attractions including the Slammer and Squire and the King and Bear golf courses. Read it for yourself by clicking the link below.

A Call to the Hall

Introducing Jeff!

Next time you pass the front desk, be sure to say hello to our newest employee, Jeff Paarlberg. Jeff, who is orginally from Chicago, previously worked at the Daniel Island Club in Charleston, South Carolina before making his way down to St. Augustine. When not answering phones and helping guests, he can be found playing just about any sport available!

Let's all give Jeff a warm Grande Villas welcome!

Concerts in the Plaza

Reminiscent of days gone by when friends and families would gather in the early evening to listen to music in the town square, Concerts in the Plaza brings a wide variety of musical entertainment to St. Augustine’s historic downtown all summer long. Bluegrass and blues, jazz and country, swing and folk, old time and popular rock: Concerts in the Plaza has something for everyone.
This year Concerts in the Plaza celebrates two decades of great entertainment in a great place. The series has been called “the best way to spend a Thursday night in St. Augustine,” and it’s easy to understand why when you’re sitting under the majestic oaks of the Plaza de la Constitución enjoying quality musical entertainment.
The concert season starts with an afternoon performance from 1 to 5 p.m. on Memorial Day presenting the St. augustine Jazz Society featuring ET 'Swings the Thing' and Roland Fleming Connection, rhythm and blues.
The concerts continue all summer long on Thursdays at 7 p.m. and concludes, as does summer, on Labor Day with another afternoon performance.

New Front Office Manager

We are very pleased to announce the promotion of Chelsea Wynn, seen here with the 2009 Quality Express trophy, to the position of Front Office Manager at Grande Villas.

Chelsea started with Bluegreen as a Front Desk Associate in 2007. She was very quickly able to learn the different aspects of her job and become one of the most valuable Front Desk team member. Chelsea earned the respect of the owners/guests as well her coworkers and mangers. She was the winner of the Q1 2009 GROWTH Award.
In 2010 Chelsea was promoted to the position of Front Desk Supervisor. She was able to provide initiative and leadership to the Front Desk Team and maintain high level of customer service and owners’/guests’ satisfaction.

Please join us in congratulating Chelsea on this well-deserved promotion.

Tiger Cubs

Our neighbors at the St. Augustine Wild Reserve have recently had the pleasure of welcoming 2 baby tigers to their reserve and are offering you the chance to come and play with them. The cost is a $50 donation per person and includes a 20 minute play and photo session. For this once in a lifetime opportunity, call the St. Augustine Wild Reserve at (904) 940-0664.
http://www.staugustinewildreserve.org/index.htm

Independence Weekend

Independence Day weekend was a thrill a minute!

July 2nd, our nieghbors at the World Golf Hall of Fame had their famous annual fireworks display. People came from all around to watch, but only our guests got to watch poolside!

July 3rd we had our Watermelon Festival, and boy was it fun! The event started off with a 15 gun salute by the Navy Color Gaurd. Everyone went poolside for games, music and of course, watermelon. Zumba dancers taught us how to groove while the hula dances taught us how to move!

July 4th there were fireworks all around, but none like the ones in St. Augustine! A beautiful display of flashing colors shooting into the sky over the 500 year old Castillo de San Marcos was the perfect way to end the amazing weekend!

Happy Birthday America!

 

Meet Charity Bear

He is soft, cuddly and a lovable stuffed animal with a caring heart. When you purchase Charity Bear for $8 from our Sundry Shop, a portion of the proceeds will be donated to the Bluegreen Charity of the month.

Real Ghost Stories of St. Augustine

With a history as old as ours, there are going to be a few ghosts! Every Thursday night, we tell stories from around St. Augustine about ghostly encounters and haunted happenings. Guests are suprised to learn that the restaurant where they enjoyed their lunch was once the scene of 2 bathtub drownings or that the giggles they heard while visiting the lighthouse were those of the children who died there over a century ago. Even if you don't believe in ghosts, you can learn a lot about the history of our town with these true stories.