Pilots honor 2016 Sweetheart

The Pilot Club of St. Augustine honored Tadzia Alexandra as its Sweetheart of 2016. Alexander, a three-year member of the club, is following in the footsteps of her grandmother, Emily Alexander, is Pilot membership.

Alexander explains she joined Pilot “because I have a love for our community and philanthropy. Volunteerism truly is a privilege,” Tadzia writes, “and Pilot is such a great sisterhood.”

For 2015-16 club year , Alexander is chairing the patriotism area. She’s also a member of the board and was just elected president-elect, with her term as president to be 2017-18. Eager to learn all about Pilot, she attended the district convention her first year.

Additional community service includes a member of the Rotary Club of St. Augustine, and chairing the allocations committee of United Way for three years. She’s currently on the steering committee for United Way Emerging Leaders Group.

Tadzia is office manager at the Alexander Law Firm. Her hobbies including running, reading and traveling.

RECENT PROGRAM

If it seems too good to be true, it usually is.

That was part of the advice Cpl. Diana Bryant of the St. Johns County Sheriff’s Department shared as speaker at the January program meeting. Her topics were fraud/ID theft prevention and personal safety.

It’s not only individuals who get scammed, Bryant said. Companies fall prey to the scams, as well. She also noted that if an individual has not lost any money, there is nothing the Sheriff’s Office can do. And if the scam occurs outside the country, nothing can be done, as well.

Along with her presentation and a question and answer session, Bryant distributed brochures on the definition of identity theft – “it happens when someone steals your personal information and uses it without your permission.” The brochure  included tips on how to protect personal information, such as e reading bank, credit card and account statements  and carefully and shredding all documents that show personal information. The brochure also recommends not responding to email, text and phone messages which request personal information.

As to personal safety, Bryant emphasized the importance of keeping both home and car doors locked at all times. As a second brochure noted, “no one is immune to crime. You face a 99 percent chance of falling victim to crime. Lower the odds. Education yourself!”

The safety and health area was in charge of the January program, with Lucille Barnhill, who chairs the area,  introducing the speaker.  Other committee members are Sue Allen, Jo Coleman and Vicki Sellner.

The next Pilot meeting begins at 6 p.m. Feb. 1 at Applebee’s. The board meets there at 5 p.m.