The NEW YEAR of 2023 is starting out with another awesome fundraiser benefiting the Facelift Project. This was a chili cook-off arranged by Terry Wright and Jim Hooper and took place at Josie’s Mexican Restaurant on Saturday, January 14. In addition to the beans, chili and gumbo, members of the board of the Community Center, POC Community Service Club, members of Friends of the Library, and members of the POC Chamber contributed items for a bake sale and live auction. Since it took place after this article was written, details will be provided in next months paper. Raffle tickets for our fish bench are still being sold. The drawing will take place at our May fundraiser. Tickets are also available at First National Bank in POC.

The Mullet Tournament provided a very nice donation to the Project this past month. The Couch family (pictured above) puts on two fishing tournaments each year, one for children and one for adults. They donate proceeds to different organizations and charities. This year, they generously donated $930.00 to our community center project. THANK YOU to them for including us this time.

Phase I of the project will include renovations to the Pavilion area. The kitchen will be upgraded, the restrooms and storage areas will be improved and enlarged, the roof will be repaired and tables and chairs will be replaced, among other things. The estimated cost of this work is $150,000.00. So far, roughly ¼ of this amount has been collected. Non-profits must show a pattern of and results from their fundraising efforts in order to be considered for most grants. Since we have done so and are continuing to do so, we can now apply for those grants. Those of us on the board of the Community Center are very excited to be taking this next step forward with this very worthy endeavor.

The Community Center is a valued part of our wonderful town. Preserving it for future generations is the goal of this project. Attend a fundraiser, participate in an auction, buy at a bake sale, buy raffle tickets, or make a donation on PayPal at porto’connorcommunity center@gmail.com, to be part of the preservation effort. The Center is used by so many citizens, community groups, and visitors every year for so many varied reasons. There are fishing tournaments, funerals, weddings, Senior Citizen luncheons, club meetings, church events, Warriors Weekend, Bunco, childrens groups and many more. There is hardly a person or family in POC that has not attended an event at our center at one time or another. We are blessed to have such an asset in our small community. Many people worked many hours to raise the money to complete it in the first place. It was not done by the county, but by citizens like us. Now it’s our turn to continue to care for and show appreciation for , all the hard work that went into providing this gift to POC. BECOME PART OF THE PRESERVATION.