Port O’Connor’s Intercoastal 4H Club
From row: Andria Munsch, Rylie Ragusin, Elanah Sanchez, McKenna Guevara Middle row: Orion Ragusin, Nicholas Ragusin, Brooklyn Redmond, Braeden Ragusin, Christopher Richter, John Rosenboom Back Row: Justin Munsch, Chloe Ragusin, Maddie Hawes, Carly Rosenboom, Hannah Hernandez, Elizabeth Carey, Tarah Munsch, Shelby Rodgers, Thomas Hawes Not pictured: Dalton Alford, Kyle Doggett, Sarah Doggett, Antonio Gloria, Andrew Ragusin, Trevon Ragusin, Robyn Stringo
photo by L. Ragusin

4H was founded between 1890-1900 to help teachers meet the need for curriculum to teach farming and homesteading skills to students. Through the years 4H has developed beyond just the basic skills. Some of the activities we do in 4H today are raising animals for the livestock show and auction, photography, skeet shooting, cooking/food challenges, sewing / fashion show, archery, livestock judging, serving as an officer and volunteer work.
The Intercoastal 4H club has 26 members. Not everyone raises an animal to take to ‘The Show’. Sewing and the Fashion Show are favorites among the girls in the club. Justin Munsch is a member of our club and also the local FFA (Future Farmers of America) club, which is something you can choose to do when you reach high school. Justin is one of our oldest members, and he is very busy participating in these prestigious activities. We enjoy getting together with our 4H members to do these activities and community service work.

We often give back to the community through volunteer work such as baking cookies for the elderly in the community, helping with FBC Easter egg hunt (set out & clean up), arranging flowers at the cemetery, cleaning up at the beach, assisting elderly with yard work, serving at the annual Sweetheart Banquet and helping put flags out at the cemetery for our veterans on Veteran’s Day.

This year several 4H students competed in the Calhoun County Fair held in October at the fairgrounds. Riley Ragusin had Grand Champion Roaster. Andrew Ragusin had Grand Champion Turkey. Turkeys take around 160 days to raise, where a roaster only takes around 75 days. We had members who raised a goat as well, and that takes 180 days or so. Raising an animal to show is a big commitment, but our members do a great job. Why do I raise fair animals you may ask? First, I hope to earn college money, and second, I gain the knowledge and experience of raising a bird. It is a project I can do each year if I want to. It is a great way to measure my success with the project. I learn the responsibility of caring for and respecting animals.

I am doing a year-long project to try and get more community support for our local 4H club. I will also be doing a few woodworking projects, and will most likely get into shooting sports this year. I will be doing some reporting on 4H activities for the paper, so look for more news and information from the Intercoastal 4H Club here in The Dolphin Talk. You may also visit our Facebook page (Intercoastal POC 4H Club).

Rylie Ragusin
Grand Champion Roaster & Best of Show at Calhoun County Fair

Louis Ragusin
Grand Champion Turkey
at Calhoun County Fair

Ever give a chicken a bubble bath? Well, 4H member Riley Ragusin can show you how. She’s an old pro after preparing her roaster for showing at the October 2015 Calhoun County Fair.

Head, Hearts, Hands and Health …4H Is Still Here

Did you know that 4H is alive and well in our community and throughout the world? If young people are our future, and there are more than one billion youth between 12 and 24 years old; then 4H is actively working to make our future brighter. 4H is the largest positive youth mentoring organization in the US.

The youth development program is a project of the Cooperative Extension System and the USDA, and is responding to challenges and changes across our world every day. Originally reaching the farmers of tomorrow, today they are mentoring leaders and future change makers across all areas. They are partners with schools, county groups, universities and youth programs to reach out with clubs, camps, programs and education. 4H reaches more than 7 million youth in more than 50 countries with the majority in the US, and more than half are girls and young women. 3007 counties have active 4H clubs offering learning opportunities for youth where they live and work, in both urban and rural neighborhoods, schoolyards and farming communities.

Networks of more than 600,000 volunteers, 3500 employed professionals and 25 million registered alumni make it a force that shapes our youth and our country. The results are undeniable. Research has proven 4H members excel beyond peers in measurable and meaningful ways including community service, civic activity, healthy choices, participation in higher level education programs such as science, engineering and technology; and school success.4H’ers engage in hands on, experiential learning activities and programs, and are encouraged to explore their place in the world around them. They set goals, work collaboratively, take leadership risks and learn to stand up for themselves and their communities.

Distinguished alumni of 4H programs have gone on to become leaders in widely varied professions and positions, but often credit 4H with helping them evolve into their best selves. People like Dandy Don Meredith of the Dallas Cowboys, Robert Delano, President of American Farm Bureau; and James Elsessor, CFO of Ralston Purina credit 4H as key to their self assurance and accomplishments.

Local youth have done some great work with 4H this year. Turkeys, roasters and goats were raised to show in the county fair. Community volunteer efforts go on behind the scenes all year long. We have some great kids involved in this amazing organization right here in our own backyard.

In an effort to be more informed and supportive of our local 4H youth, I invited Thomas Hawes to write about his POC 4H Club experience. Above is his contribution.

Port O’Connor Community Service Club invites you to our Annual Seniors Christmas Luncheon

Friday, December 4th – 10:30 a.m. – Port O’Connor Community Center

Great Food! Door Prizes! Special Christmas Music! Friends and Fellowship!

You won’t want to miss this special event in our community.

For questions or assistance, please call Marie Hawes at 361-920-2322.

The POC Service Club is pleased to invite you to our annual Christmas Luncheon Friday, December 4th at 10:30 a.m. Seniors and community honorees will be treated to this year’s special treat. Music from the POC Elementary Students, great food, entertainment and special door prizes are all on the schedule. Plan to arrive early and come hungry, you won’t be disappointed.

On Saturday, December 5th, we will joyfully welcome another arrival of Toy Run boaters and their crew to the area near Clark’s Marina and Hotel. They will come, costumes at the ready with mountains of toys and gifts for deserving area children. The Chamber and Service Club will make sure they have a good hot meal before they decorate and congregate their boats for the annual POC Lighted Christmas Boat Parade that evening. This much anticipated event is very special to our community and to hundreds of children in our region. Lots of disadvantaged kids, not just in POC but region wide, will have a merry Christmas because of the Toy Run. Come out and support the “Toy Runners” as they give back in a fun and unusual way. If you want to adopt one of the Angels on the community Christmas list, stop by POC Hardware after December begins and volunteer to shop for one or more children in need of personal things like coats and pajamas, etc. Giving new socks to a child in need might just bless your socks off.

The POC Service Club has collected many good recipes from great cooks in our community, but there is still room for your favorite dish in our new edition cookbook. Please share your best recipes with one of our club members so we can include it as we assemble and print our new cookbook soon. We will also have sponsor spots for sale in the cookbook. Maybe your business would like to advertise your best. Stay tuned. One of our members will be getting in touch soon to tell you how you can participate.

The Service Club has lots to be thankful for this Thanksgiving, but we are especially grateful to have several new members willing to work and ready to share their talents with us in our community. Seven new club members in just the last few weeks is quite an accomplishment. We welcome them, and know they will be a great addition. Furthermore, we have several special events coming up in our community. Maybe your skills are the ones we will need next. Come visit one of our regular meetings. Join us in the back room of the POC Community Center on any 1st or 3rd Thursday morning at 10am. You might find a perfect place to share what you have.

So, until next time, be safe, live simply, love openly, forgive generously and remember what the great English poet William Wordsworth said. “That best portion of a good man’s life is his little, nameless, unremembered acts of kindness and love.” Come on by and we will help you name and remember some little random acts of kindness as we reach out to be a blessing to others.

A series of free activities is held each year in Port Lavaca to bring holiday cheer to the community and visitors. Holiday events kick off with the tree lighting ceremony at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 2 at Bayfront Peninsula Park sponsored by the City of Port Lavaca, with help from the Port Lavaca Chamber of Commerce.

While those in attendance listen to Christmas music, tell Santa if they have been a good girl or boy, sip hot chocolate and roast marshmallows over three fire pits to make S’mores, others can enjoy the ice skating rink open from 6 to 9 p.m. Wednesday through Friday and from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday. An addition to this year’s event is a life sized snow globe in which attendees may be photographed.

The holiday celebration continues with a lighted Christmas parade starting at 6 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 3. The theme is “A Star-Spangled Christmas.”

The route begins on Virginia Street at Sam Faubion Drive then continues down Virginia before turning onto Main Street where it continues until it stops at the Bayfront Peninsula Park pavilion.
Santa will ride in a local fire engine while schools, businesses and organizations participate in the parade. More info: 552-2959.