We would like to recognize one of the hardest working members of the Chamber team… Susan Braudaway.  Not only is Susan a board member, but she is also our Social Media Director, and what an asset she is!  If you are on Facebook, you have seen just how much she does! Our Chamber Facebook page and Event Calendar are monitored daily and updated with posts from our business member’s Facebook pages. She also shares our Chamber, fishing, and community events, ensuring these are posted on the website calendar. Susan is always out and about, taking pictures of our beautiful community and all it has to offer.  Thank you, Susan, for all you do for our community and our Chamber of Commerce!! Make sure you like the Port O’Connor Chamber of Commerce Facebook page for updated information, and if you want to know what’s going on in POC, on any given day, check out the Event Calendar on the Chamber website. www.portoconnorchamber.com

RENEW   JOIN   RENEW   JOIN   RENEW   JOIN   RENEW

Now is the time to join or renew your Chamber membership! With the support of members like you, we can provide a sustainable business community in Port O’ Connor. Only through your involvement and support can the Chamber continue to fund important community initiatives and lead the way for growth of our businesses.  Our membership drive begins, each year, in January and all business memberships are listed on our website. We have thousands who visit our webpage looking for all types of local information. Membership applications are available on our website, and you can join online. You do not have to own a local business to join, we welcome Individual and Couple memberships as well.

Mark your calendar for upcoming events:

• Farmer’s Market-Saturday, April 10th at the Kingfisher Beach Pavilion
• Chamber Board Meeting-Monday, April 12th at 6:30 at the Community Center.
• Crawfish Festival- Saturday, April 24th at the Kingfisher Beach
• Farmer’s Market- Saturday May 10th at the Kingfisher Beach Pavilion
• Chamber Board Meeting-Monday, May 12th at the 6:30 at the Community Center.
• Memorial Day Kids Fishing Tournament- Saturday, May 29th
• Golf Cart Scavenger Hunt- a date is being finalized and will be announced soon.

All you need is POC and some Crawfish!!

It’s fast approaching, and we are working very hard to make this year’s 9th Annual Crawfish Fest & Cookoff the best it can!! We are so lucky and very excited that we can hold the event this year, and we know you are ready for it too! After taking a year off from most activities, we will be kicking off the event on April 24, 2021. The festival will still be contingent on pandemic protocols and practices and measures will be put into place to accommodate those that choose to utilize them.

Because this event is one of the biggest weekends in Port O’Connor, it takes approximately 100 volunteers to ensure it is runs smoothly. It has been our goal to grow a little each year, while ensuring that everything runs smooth, and everyone has a safe and fun time. We need volunteers to work the day of, working a shift or two. as well as sponsors to help promote this event! If you are interested in helping out, please email us at crawfish@portoconnorchamber.com.

As this is the only fundraiser the POC Chamber has, we hope that we can count on some of our businesses around the area to help us out, by sponsoring needs or monetarily to help us cover expenses. We would love to promote your businesses at our event and show the public what we are built on! If you would like to help sponsor, you can find a sponsor commitment form on our website, www.portoconnorchamber.com , or call us at 361-983-2898 and we can also email you one. Also like and follow our POC Crawfish Fest & Cookoff page on Facebook for all the latest updates.

Mark your calendar for April 24th, from 10 am to 5 pm at King Fisher Park. There’s gonna be LOTS of crawfish, beer, food & craft vendors, crawfish eating contest, horseshoe and maybe a cornhole tournament, raffle, a wine wagon, people’s choice, and live music Cajun Zydeco. Where else are you gonna get all this on a beachfront Saturday afternoon? You will want to be there!!!

Easter is almost here. The bonnets are on display as is the new clothing that so many will purchase in the next few weeks. Yes, we are going to have our Community Sunrise Service and I trust I will see you there! We will come together to sing, “Because He Lives, I Can Face Tomorrow”! And it will remind me of the old song, “I don’t know about tomorrow – but I know Who holds my hand”!

The first Easter celebrations was nothing like the ones I have celebrated. We always had eggs to hide and hunt, a big meal to enjoy together, and occasionally a new shirt to wear to church. The crowd on that Crucifixion Day (which was only three days before Easter) had asked for the death of Jesus. They even had asked that the blood of Jesus be upon them and their children. How could Jesus pray forgiveness for them as He hug from the Tree? How do we forgive what is unforgiveable?

In Jesus’ case, we see a mob in desperate need of forgiveness, but still completely focused on continuing in their sinful ways. The amazing thing is that Jesus’ words did not even land in the crowd. The soldiers still gambled for His last shred of clothing, and the crowd mocked Him the more. Yet Jesus prayed for them.

Contrary to all the surface evidence, Jesus gave us one of the great principles of forgiveness here: “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”

On first hearing that, it seems wrong. “You do not understand! You knew exactly what you were doing. It was premeditated. It was planned. They knew they would inflict great pain, yet they did it anyway.”

We think of that person who stole our business. We think of the spouse who had the affair. We think of the classmate who lied about us in school, or the co-worker who stabbed us in the back at work. In each case, the damage was carried out according to plan. Our “tormentors” knew exactly what they were doing and seemed to get delight in doing it!

Get a picture of the kind of knowledge Jesus is referencing. The people could not see or discern spiritual truth; the light was not on in their heart of spirit. This was not head knowledge; it was the seeing of revelation or truth.

In essence, Jesus said, “I can forgive them because I know that they are not the enemy; they are bing manipulated by evil, and I will see them as worth saving.” Jesus did not win the battle with evil by giving us what we deserve, but by seeing the possibility of change within our hearts.

How does this principle play out in our lives when it comes to our responsibility to forgive? Jesus knew that what people need more than anything in this world is not just the forgiveness of words, but to hear us acknowledge to others, “I forgive you because I see good in you, and I am willing to fight for your redemption.”

Jesus is trying to teach us how to say, “I forgive you because I believe you are worthy of it. Your value to me is more than what you have done wrong. I see the good in you, and I am willing to fight for your redemption.”

Those who do not know Christ expect us to be like them, but when we fight for them by offering forgiveness, it can change their eternity. Our forgiveness can become the key to hardened hearts that breaks through satanic strongholds and reaches that person’s core with the power of the Gospel. When that happens, another priceless soul is ushered into the Kingdom. True victory and real joy comes from looking beyond people and the hurts of life. In following Jesus’ example, we find the victory that He has for us as we live in genuine forgiveness.

Jesus had a reason to die! Only by becoming our sacrifice could He offer us forgiveness! And He was willing to die for us! For whom are we willing to die? It takes a willingness on our part to die in order to forgive others as Christ forgives us, but it is worth it. Try it!

The Ladies of the POC Service Club would like to thank all who turned out for our Spaghetti Supper on March 12, and our booth at the Farmer’s Market on March 13th!!! Your generous donations, and continued support, are greatly appreciated as we work steadily toward raising money for our much needed storage barn and our many projects aimed at giving back to the POC Community!!!

Please mark your Calendars for our two April fundraisers:

Our Booth at the Farmer’s Market Saturday, April 10, 2021
8:00 a.m. until Noon
Front Beach Pavilion

Our “Mega Spring Garage Sale” Saturday, April 17, 2021
8:00 a.m. until Noon
POC Community Center Pavilion

The Club continues to accept, and appreciate, your generous contributions of gently used household, decorative, and kitchen items; small appliances; clothing; shoes; jewelry, books, toys; children’s and baby items, sporting goods, tools and lawn care equipment , furniture; etc. We cannot accept computers, electronics, or mattresses.

To donate, please contact:
Alane Haardt at 281-416-6028
Nancy Ladshaw at 830-832-0510
Marie Hawes at 361-920-2322

Our April Meetings are April 1 and April 15 at 10:00 a.m. at the POC Community Center. If you are interested in joining this group of fun, hardworking ladies, please come check us out!! All are welcome!!

The Seadrift Area Volunteer Emergency Services, abbreviated S.A.V.E.S., has been awarded a new rescue truck. Because of the combined efforts of the City of Seadrift and S.A.V.E.S. the truck became a reality through a grant from the Texas Department of Agriculture’s CDBG-FAST fund. The truck comes equipped with storage units, a generator, and a light tower. Inside the storage units are the jaws of life and SCBAs (self-contained breathing apparatus) which, also, came with the same grant.

S.A.V.E.S. has weekly meetings at 7:30pm on Tuesdays. The Fire Station is at 101 E. Dallas Avenue in Seadrift. Volunteers are needed.

Tanya DeForest