What a wonderful Sweetheart Banquet we had this year! We had a great crowd, beautiful decorations, superb entertainment, delicious food and so much fun. It takes so many volunteers each year to prepare everything, but it is all worth it when we see the smiles and happy faces. This year Gary Rigomonti was gracious enough to cook our tender and flavorful pulled pork and sausage. The side dishes and desserts were prepared by FBC’s wonderful cooks and volunteers from the POC Community Service Club. What a blessing all these wonderful people are. A “Thank You” is not enough to say, but God’s blessings on everyone for the hours spent on this project. We don’t try to make a profit from our banquet, but it is a way to bring the community together. This year we also delivered about 20 meals to shut ins and ill in POC. Mark your calendars for the Thursday before Valentines Day, 2024, don’t want to miss next year’s banquet. We’ll be looking for you!

We have Team Kids and Youth activities every Wednesday from 5:30 p.m. until 7:00 pm. Dinner is served to all; they have Bible study, crafts and other activities each night. This year many of our youth served as waiters and waitresses for our banquet. What a wonderful job they did! We had so many compliments about them. God bless everyone of them
Every Tuesday we have Bible study for women at 4:00 and men at 8;00. These are held in our Fellowship Hall next to the church. Anyone is welcome to join us.

We have our ongoing ministries that we’re support all year long. The Community Food Bank for the people of POC. Hard times come to us all. You can donate to this project by bringing non perishable food items or money to FBC or Fisherman’s Chapel. We also collect items all year for the Samaritan’s Purse Shoe Boxes. Any small toy, washcloths, bar soap, T-shirts, hair bows, school supplies, etc., can be used to fill the boxes to be sent around the world. Both of these projects are important as outreach tools. Please consider supporting one of them.

We are waiting to welcome you to any of our services or activities. Come join us whenever you can. We have Sunday school and church at 10:00 and 11:00 on Sunday morning. Tuesday is Bible study and Wednesday is Team kids and Youth activities . Our doors are open and the lights are on.

Call for information or to arrange for our bus to pick up children. (361)983-2727.

I am entering my 29th year in Port O’Connor. Having been invited to help start a church by six people, two of which moved before I arrived, I came on the second Sunday of February, and our Editor Joyce Rhyne, is our only member who has been here for most services. She surely should receive “The Endurance Prize”!

Saying “Good Bye” has never been easy for me, especially when it is a very dear friend and part of our Church Family. We loved John Scott and truly miss him at the Chapel! My last phone conversation with him was on January 24, and my last text message was telling me he would have to work on Sunday, January 29. It came in at 8:29 Saturday evening. I told him we would miss him and loved him, not knowing that in less than 12 hours we would receive the news of his tragic death! We were honored to have a memorial service for John on February 8, and there were many of his coworkers and friends, as well as his Chapel Family in attendance. Our prayers remain with his family as they learn to move forward without John, especially his beloved Susie Onishi and her mother Grace.

Our community has also had the great loss of Hunter Hadley. Although I do not remember meeting Hunter, his mother Kristen and grandmother Vicky were once active parts of the Chapel family. Our prayers continue for his family and for McCoy Wagner’s complete recovery. We need to be aware of the many others who are also hurting as a result of this tragedy – those who helped recover McCoy, those who helped search, and especially those who recovered Hunter.

One thing we must learn again and again is that life is so uncertain! Tragedies strike without warning and when we are totally unprepared. Please stop reading this article right now and call or talk to someone you care about and take the opportunity to express your love – we never know when it will be for the last time.

Last month, Pastor Joane and I preached a revival in  Victoria at Friendship Church. It was an exciting time seeing the Lord move upon hearts and witness them beginning to make changes that will better their relationships with each other! As I write this, we are involved in another revival with many additional congregations and are seeing the same things! God is wanting us to move up closer to Himself and those who are doing so are finding greater and peace and blessings they never knew existed! Pastor Joane is leading other Ladies Retreat in Houston, and I will be preaching a Men’s Retreat in Sweeney before month’s end.

“Love is in the air” so I have heard, so the Chapel noted this Christian attribute with a Valentine’s party. Although we were in competition with the Super Bowl we had a good turn-out and a great time.

Fisherman’s Chapel is an interdenominational congregation whose goal is to help people love the Lord with all their hearts and to love each other! Our Sunday service schedule is Bible Study at 10:00 a.m., followed by Morning Service at 11:00. Sunday evenings, we meet at 6:00 p.m. On Wednesdays, we meet at 7:00 for dinner, followed with ministry of the Word. Everyone is welcomed and all will receive a warm greeting. All are urged to, “Come, grow with us!”

Look for the new lights which will be installed along the Pier at King Fisher Beach. The new solar LED lights will come on at dark and go off at dawn. They should be operational in the next couple of weeks.

Port O’ Connor seniors get your applications submitted for the annual Chamber Scholarship. We give one $1,000 or two $500 scholarships. Applications can be picked up at the Calhoun High School principal’s office. Chamber members will pick up those submissions on March 27th to evaluate and choose a winner(s).

Reminder that our 2023 membership drive is underway, and we are planning our Member Appreciation Casino Night for February 24th at the Community Center. All Chamber members and one guest are invited to attend and enjoy the evening. You may join the chamber online at www.portoconnorchamber.com/member/newmembership.

The Eleventh Annual Crawfish festival will be April 29th. Presale of entrance tickets was such a success last year that we will be offering that choice again this year. In fact, when you order your entrance tickets you can purchase your beer tickets at the same time. Look for these presale options on our website starting April 1st. Pick up will be Friday afternoon, April 28th from 3:00-6:00 or at the will call entrance, April 29th.

We welcome our new members for this month, Coastal Lawn & Maintenance which offers lawn mowing, weed eating, grass planting and other green space services. Port Lavaca Clinic which is in Port Lavaca and offers a multispecialty clinic providing health care services for the community for 61 years. Lester Contracting, Inc. (LCI) provides heavy/civil construction services to customers in the Texas Gulf Coast Region. Tracy Pershall, Realtor, who specializes in land, home sales, secondary/vacation homes in Port O’ Connor and surrounding areas. Mowdy Boats of Texas in Port Lavaca manufactures premium, custom made to order bay boats. Warrior’s Weekend is a non-profit, 501 (c) 3 Corporation dedicated to the support of veterans of The United States of America with an emphasis on those wounded in The Global War on Terrorism.

Spring is around the corner and there will be a number of fun events you don’t want to miss. Stay up to date by looking at the calendar on the chamber website at www.portoconnorchamber.com

The chamber meets the second Monday of each month at 6:30 at the meeting room at the Library. Our meetings are open to the public, and we encourage you to get involved.

This is Fjola’s first year as the Seadrift School’s Assistant Principal. Fjola’s full name is Fjola Cisotto Unnarsdottir. Fjola has a colorful background having lived in far away places. She was born in Keflavik, Iceland and lived there until she was five years old. She lived in Saudi Arabia where she attended an American school until she was thirteen. Fjola says she had a real culture shock when her family moved to Corpus Christi after living in Saudi Arabia (women didn’t drive with head coverings).

Fjola enlisted in the Army and was a MP Officer for five years. She was stationed at Fort Leonard Wood Army Base in Missouri which is the home of the MP Corp of the U.S. Army. Fjola says, “I joined because of friends who were stationed at Fort Hood who were deployed to Iraq during “Iraqi Freedom.” One friend passed away in the line of duty while in Iraq. His tank hit a IED and was killed.” Fjola told her friend after he passed that “I’m going to finish your fight.”

She earned her Bachelor’s degree through UHV in Katy, Texas having already gotten her Associates degree at Central Texas College in Killeen, Texas. Fjola has been with CCISD since 2018, teaching 4th grade ELAR (English Language Arts/ Writing) and had transitioned to being a dyslexia teacher.

In conclusion, Fjola wanted to share these thoughts to other veterans: “God bless you and thank you for your service!”

-Tanya DeForest

Chance Miller Boggess

Meet Chance Miller Boggess. He’s our featured guest in the February Kid’s Corner column in the Dolphin Talk. I hope you enjoy reading about Chance as much as I enjoyed interviewing him!

Chance is originally from Georgia. He says that he likes Texas better than Georgia, except for the mosquitoes. His parents are Bob and Melissa Boggess. Bob and Melissa have eleven children, four boys and eight girls. Chance says his family is “really busy!” The family has four dogs: Cleo, Arlington, Presley, and Koda… and don’t forget the fourteen chickens and one pig.

Chance is ten years old and in the fifth grade. He is enrolled in the “Time for Learning” home school program. His favorite books are about hunting. Chance loves to fish. He says that the biggest fish he has ever caught was a red fish caught at the Falcon Point Lodge where his parents work. When asked how big the fish was, Chance spread his hands out about a foot or more. (You could tell Chance was mighty proud of his catch!) Chance is a football fan and says his favorite football team is the Georgia Wildcats.

Chance considers Seadrift’s First Baptist as his church and comments that the church is “really nice.” He attends First Baptist’s children’s programs on Monday and Wednesday nights. Chance says that his favorite part of the Bible is the Creation Story because he likes animals.