Small-town libraries create an environment for learning and sharing

Don’t miss the article in TEXAS CO-OP POWER April, 2016 edition that gives a nice update on how small-town libraries are serving their communities.

The article relates how Silverton, a small community in the Texas Panhandle, recently remodeled and reopened their library and changed it from a hushed and dusty quiet zone to a hive of community activity with seniors and students alike occupying the well-lit rooms, relaxing in comfortable chairs, scanning freshly installed shelves filled with books and taking advantage of the high-speed wireless internet at computer terminals. In other communities the libraries “double as community centers, not just offering an educational setting for youths, but also providing employment resources and skills training for adults, and in some cases, even health screenings. The goals is to update them for 21-century use.”

Patricia Smith, executive director of the Texas Library Association says, “The modern library is a little bit of everything. In small towns, they are the intellectual hub, community center and a major resource for social services.”

The Tocker Foundation, credited in the article for helping many Texas rural libraries, has written a letter of support for our POC project. We look forward to their support when we reach the ground-breaking stage. For more information contact: friendsofpoclibrary@gmail.com

The Port O’Connor community food pantry, located at Fishermen’s Chapel, has fed dozens of families dozens of meals already this year. Families of all sorts in need of a little assistance will come by or call for help. They may have small children, a house full of teens or a senior citizen living alone. Sometimes they have been affected by a job layoff, a plant shutdown, sickness, family crisis or some tragedy of life. Sometimes they just need a helping hand to get through the week or the month until the next income is available.

The pantry offers meat, fish, carbohydrates and vegetables to those in need in amounts and measures appropriate to their family and situation.

The exciting news is that the pantry recently received a tremendous blessing. A new 20 foot walk in freezer was installed on a new concrete pad behind the Chapel and will be available for storage of frozen and perishable items donated to the community food pantry.

Pastor Don Smith and his men’s fellowship group of Arlington Heights Assembly of God Church in Ft. Worth, Texas in cooperation with Chapel members and staff worked long and hard to assemble, insulate and wire the donated freezer last week and it is now up and running, ready for groceries. A big ‘thank you’ goes to Lonnie, Larry and Danny in particular who traveled from North Texas to help.

Our economy is a bit rough right now. Many are seeing their budget crumble under job layoffs, oil price drops, insurance cost increases, stock dips and other changes. We are happy to think that the pantry will be there when people need help.

If you would like to donate food to the pantry, feel free to drop it off at Fishermen’s Chapel anytime. The door is always open. If you have perishable items, please call first so we can arrange to store them. If you would like to donate money, give to the POC Community Benevolence Fund at First National Bank, POC. If you find you or someone you know in need of help from the pantry, please call your pastor, or pantry coordinator Pastor Erny McDonough at 361-983-2613. The pantry is here to serve those in need.

Darin Luna of Port O’Connor was inducted into Victoria College’s Zeta Gamma Chapter of the Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society at a ceremony on Thursday, March 24.

The Phi Theta Kappa International Honor Society, established in 1918 is the largest honor society in U.S. higher education, with more than two million members and 1,200 chapters. The honor society recognizes academic excellence of two-year college students and provides opportunities for individual growth and development through honors, leadership and service programming.

First Baptist Church of Port O’Connor sponsored a community Easter Egg Hunt on Saturday, March 26. It was a fun event for children of all ages, with candy eggs, filled eggs and golden prize eggs hidden in progressively more difficult places as the age of the hunters increased. The toddlers picked them right off the grass while the preteens had to search high and low and consider unusual places. Each age group had a golden egg winner and they all had an eggcellent time.

Congratulations to Emery and Mia, granddaughters of Tucker & Kim Sonnier, who found golden price eggs at the hunt.