Children of Port O’Connor were a tremendous help in providing food for those in need during this holiday season. At the Port O’Connor School, a food drive was held from November 11 through November 22, which resulted in the collection of over 1,800 items given for the Thanksgiving and Christmas food baskets. Additionally, the First Baptist Church youth, together with our local 4-H club conducted two food drives to supplement our local Food Pantry.

We are very proud of our Port O’Connor kids!

Port O’Connor School Students

-H members : Elizabeth Tolar, Waylon Garner, Bryan Sandy, Kolt Lieker, and Dalton Garner.

Baptist Youth Brynien Eure, Lexi Ruddick, Romy Thornton

Letter to the Dolphin…
“We are incredibly thankful for the amazing response from our school community during the POC Elementary food drive. The effort put forth by our students was truly inspiring. They demonstrated creativity and teamwork that made this event such a success. The tremendous amount of food collected speaks volumes about their dedication and their character they put into helping others. We are so proud of them and grateful for everyone who contributed!” –
Sheryl Haynes 2nd Grade Teacher

This generous “elf” was one of the boaters who made it through bad weather to deliver toys to our kids in the 19th annual Freeport to Port O’Connor Toy Run.

In addition to the 60 Port O’Connor children who were part of the Adopt-An-Angel program, the Toy Run brought enough toys to give to: Bluebonnet Youth Ranch
Point Comfort Volunteer Fire Department
Seadfift School
Magnolia Beach Fire Department
The Harbor
Seadrift Police Department
Austwell-Tivoli ISD
Port Lavaca Sheriff’s Department
HJM School

Locals helped unload the toys which were taken to the Community Center where many helpers sorted them.

Best Overall in the Boat Parade
Mark Daigle, 24’ Tritoon boat, Grinch Boat

Best Largest Pleasure Boat:
40’ Sport Cruiser named Fueling Around, Bill Squires

Best Medium Pleasure Boat : Indianola Fishing Marina, 25’ Dargle

Best Smallest Pleasure Boat: David Haseloff, 21’ Sportster

Most Spirited Boat in the LIghted Boat Parade
Tropical Christmas, 25’ X3, Brandon Welch

U..S. Coast Guard

Sorry, we have no photo of Most Unique
Chris Wolfe, Karoake Boat, 28’ Grady White

The Port O’Connor Community Service Club at their Christmas party. These ladies (some are not pictured) give senior citizens a beautiful Christmas Luncheon every year – only one of many good works they do for our community.

Annual “Senior Citizens’ Christmas Luncheon:: The POC Service Club had a wonderful turnout for their annual “Senior Citizen’s Christmas Luncheon”, with the highlight of the day being the announcement that our wonderful Joyce Rhyne is the recipient of the Club’s distinguished “Community Champion Award”, for her decades of hard work, excellent reporting, and invaluable service to the POC Community through her publication of the “Dolphin Talk”, keeping all of us informed about what’s going on in POC!! Congratulations, Joyce, and thank you for everything you do for POC and its citizens! Everyone had a great time enjoying the beautiful decorations, Christmas Carols sung by Lilli Soto and her merry band of Elves, the blessing by Pastor Ernie McDonough, the delicious meal and desserts prepared by the Service Club Ladies, and the camaraderie and visiting with family and friends. The Club wishes all of you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, 2025!

Memorials: The Club made a donation to the Hospice of South Texas in memory of the Honorable Richard Meyer.

Farmers Market: Please check out our Service Club Booth at the next Farmer’s Market on January 11, 2025 from 8:00 AM to 12:00 Noon. We will have delicious baked goods, potted plants, handcrafted items, “Service Club Cookbooks“, and “POC- End of The Road” License Plate Covers, and more.

Service Club Meetings: Club meetings are the first and third Thursdays of the month, with the next ones being January 2 and January 16, 2025 at 10:00 a.m. at the POC Community Center. All Ladies are welcome!
Medical Equipment For Loan: The Club stocks medical equipment of various kinds to loan out to those in need. For inquiries, please contact one of the Ladies listed below.

Spring Mega Garage Sale: Our next Garage Sale will be on April 5, 2025, and we are already preparing for it! We appreciate your generous donations of household, decorative, and kitchen items; small appliances; gently used clothing; shoes; toys; children’s and baby items; furniture, lawn and sports equipment, etc. For your convenience, we have a “Drop Box” in front of our “Service Club Donation Center.” For questions, or to donate, please call one of the ladies listed below.
Alane Haardt- 281-416-6028
Nancy Ladshaw- 830-832-0510
Marie Hawes- 361-920-2322
Nan Burnett- 832-276-5948

Maeghen Strahm, Nominating Committee Chair and Marie Hawes, President presented Joyce Rhyne (Dolphin Talk) with the Service Club’s Community Champion Award.

You Heard it from the Dolphin:
Congratulations to the Port O’Connor Community Service Club on another wonderful Seniors’ Christmas Luncheon. The food was delicious, the decorations beautiful, and the service outstanding. If you’ve never been, you have missed one of the highlights of the Christmas season.

I would like to thank the Club for honoring me as their “Community Champion” this year. As I told those in attendance, Dolphin Talk is not my paper, it is a community project. Without the input from reporters and secretaries of the various organizations and other individuals in our communities, there could be no paper. If you, the reader, ever have something you think would be of interest to the community, please don’t hesitate to contact me at the above address/phone number/email.

I would also like to recognize some who have been very important in getting this paper out: our dedicated reporter Tanya DeForest, the ladies who deliver the paper – Laura Rhyne, Karolyn Kinsel, Suzie Jaycox and Rose Williams, my loyal proofreader, Ann Pesek, and our advertisers who make the printing possible.

And, thank you for reading the Dolphn Talk!

Joyce Rhyne, Editor