Port O’Connor Community Service Club is home and happy to be here. We did not have our new officer elections due to the interruption of Hurricane Harvey. We got together to catch up and fellowship on Thursday, September 7th. We will pay our annual dues, elect our new slate of officers and get to work on our Fall projects at our Thursday, September 21 meeting at 10:00 AM at the Community Center. All interested women are welcome. It would be a great time to join this group because we have several fun and important projects coming up.

Our October 7th Community Garage Sale is on! We will be selling home baked goodies and generously donated quality used goods to support our scholarship fund and other projects. We will price in a way that those who need to replace hurricane damaged goods can reasonably find what they need. We are also able to help families and children in need of clothing or personal care items needed now, in the days after the storm. If you or someone you know has a need for these things, they can get them now by calling Kelly Gee at 817-929-2564, or coming to our October Garage Sale and making one of the ladies in turquoise shirts aware of what they need. We take pride in reaching out to our community, so please let us know where there are needs we can help meet.

School is finally back in session, and our little learners couldn’t be happier. POC Service Club provided two new soccer goals to POC Elementary, and we continue to volunteer in classrooms and for teachers in need of help. If you have some spare hours in your week, come volunteer with us. Reading with early readers, offering encouragement for those needing a little boost, or prepping materials for classroom use are just some of the areas open for volunteering. Stop by the POC Elementary School office and complete a single page information sheet to become a volunteer. It is fun and rewarding to see those young minds and bodies grow and learn. Don’t forget to drop off any school supplies you might have collected before the hurricane. Our students and teachers will really appreciate your help and supplies will be put to good use.

The Service Club Christmas Luncheon is set for Friday, December 1, 2017 at the Community Center. Stay tuned for special details.

We find ourselves grateful and amazed that our little community endured so much so very well. Neighbors helped each other and strangers were quick to lend a hand. So, after gratitude comes action. Meet a neighbor you did not know, greet a friend you haven’t seen, and lend a hand to someone just because you can. The POC Service Club is not the only opportunity to serve in this town. Find your spot and be a part of our community. Each one of us can make a difference.

So, until next time, be safe, live simply, love openly, forgive generously and remember this quote by great author and motivator Sally Koch who said, “Great opportunities to help others seldom come, but small ones surround us every day.”

Opportunists welcome at POC Service Club.

Thank You, Danny!

The POC Service Club Members want to take a minute to thank one of our own. Danny Bourg worked tirelessly with hometown and out-of-town crews to get our town back up and running. He was out early and stayed late, he treated us like neighbors and friends and gave to our community making it possible for us to have electricity sooner and safely. His sweet wife Madeline, a tireless worker herself, rarely saw him for days.

We appreciate every single lineman from VEC and all the other groups who worked so hard! Thank you!

Still, we especially thank, appreciate and love Danny for his dedication, work ethic, stamina and inside knowledge that powered POC promptly!
Bless you Danny Bourg! You Make us POC Proud!

OK–Harvey has Come and Gone!!!!!

So much has happened in Port O’Connor since last Chamber Chat. Last month I was saying how Port O’Connor has so many new citizens and how much we’ve grown. Well, everyone had a chance to come together with Harvey coming into the Gulf. Neighbors helping neighbors, if someone needed something, an item or physical help, someone was there to help. I’m proud to be a part of this community and know others feel this way also. Yes, we had some damage, but by some miracle, it was nothing to what could have been. Yes, we were without electricity and sewer for a period of time, but everyone managed and became stronger.

The businesses had some damages also, but most are are now back open. The mosquitoes were getting quite bad and a wonderful person with a crop duster went out of his way and sprayed POC, next morning another miracle, 99% of mosquitoes were gone. POC has so much to be thankful for.

Now is the time to start planning your setup for “TRUNK or TREAT” which will be located at King Fisher Park, Saturday -October 28th taking place at 7 p.m. Decorate your trunk or area around your vehicle and hand out goodies for the little goblins. THANKS goes out to Mary Francis Bauer of 10th Street Lodge for heading up this event. They had a great turn out last year and so much Fun!!!

New and Renewed Memberships:

Lowtide Guide Service
Coastal Bend Marine

THANKS TO ALL–

Whew! I don’t know about you but hopefully you were as lucky as we were when we met Harvey. We evacuated. For unusual reasons we had not evacuated when Claudette came around way back then. She was a low numbered hurricane. As you all know Harvey was a four.

We were trapped because Claudette came early.. The weather folks assured us we had plenty of time the evening before so we decided to wait till the next morning to leave. The next morning and Claudette came at the same time. So we were here in our humble new little house.

We soon learned that hurricanes are very nasty folks whatever their name or intensity number. She was loud and roared and the house shook and the electricity went out. It was at least uncomfortable and definitely scary. Fortunately the house weathered the storm safely.

We decided then and there we didn’t want that experience ever again and would evacuate. I figured a week early was about right but prudence said that might be a bit to soon. Given that Claudette was a one we figured the higher number Harvey would be worse It was.

It stayed far longer than it was welcome, did far more damage in a far wider area. In all ways was a particularly bad boy. We fully expected disaster when we returned after a week or so of no electricity but for us it was fortunately minor damage. Not so for many and our hearts go out to those all along the Texas coast that weren’t so fortunate.

We have a larder to fill because with the electricity off the food in it spoiled. We, along with many others, have a destroyed or missing pier. We have a tree or two to cut up and haul away and some roof shingles and other debris to clean up. However, Harvey up and down the coast left much more work for many other folks.

We all have a lot of clean up and replacing to do. As near as I can tell the good folks are doing just that. Our children who lived in Houston didn’t get flooded, thank goodness. They, along with the other fortunate ones, are working to get things straightened out up there. However, if Claudette took a year or so, it will likely take a far longer time to get fully repaired from Harvey.

I don’t know who establishes the names of Hurricanes. But this time they must have had some sort of premonition. Harvey was not a particularly popular name before and might be less popular in the immediate future. Harvey’s provenance is at least interesting. It comes from the old Breton words Haer and viu. Haer loosely translates in to strong or war. The phrase often translates to Battle worthy. Those naming guys named this brute pretty well. Those of us who are left certainly have a Battle-worthy task of recovering. I know we can make it.