Any nation that does not honor its heroes will not long endure.”
Abraham Lincoln

November 13th at the Seadrift School gym was just that… honoring our heroes! Many people came to experience a very special program put on by the Seadrift School to honor our veterans. Many an area veteran was recognized as well as the different branches of service in the presentation of the military flags. Patriotic songs were performed by the students. There was the POW and MIA table to help us remember that they are not forgotten. Pledges to our flags were given. A Veterans Prayer Poem was read. A speech was given by the Assistant School Principal Fjola Reger. The program was enjoyed by veterans and community alike.

For over 23 years the Seadrift School has been honoring our area veterans. Any time a veteran is honored any or all their families are honored as well.

We salute the Seadrift School staff and students who worked to make these programs possible.
God bless the USA!
-Tanya DeForest

Senior Citizen’s Christmas Luncheon:  POC citizens were treated to a fabulous time at the Service Club’s “2023 Senior Citizens Christmas Luncheon” on December 1, 2023 at the POC Community Center – beautiful decorations; a scrumptious feast; rollicking Christmas music; and lots of fun, visiting, laughter, and great door prizes! The highlight of the afternoon came when the Club announced their 2023 “Community Champions”, and honored five of POC’s finest with a framed “Community Champion” certificate and cash award for their years of tireless, selfless, and unwavering service, dedication, and support of the POC Community and its citizens.

This year our Club’s “Community Champions” are Marie Hawes, Mary and Troy Wygrys, Nancy Ladshaw, and Troy Beaudry!  Congratulations to all of these wonderful citizens- we honor and appreciate you!

Support of the Community Center Facelift Project:   The Service Club Ladies  donated $15,000 to the Community Center Association to help in the completion of Phase 2 of the “Community Center Facelift Project” which includes kitchen updates, new flooring, painting, and new chairs for the Community Center.

Farmers Market:  The Service Club appreciates your ongoing support at our Booth at POC’s Farmers Markets, the next one being Saturday, January 13, 2024 from 8:00 a.m. to 12:00 Noon.  Please come check out our homemade baked goods and treats, potted plants, hand crafted items, “Service Club Cookbooks“, “POC- End of The Road” License Plate Covers, and raffle tickets of $5.00 each for a beautiful handmade quilt. There is something for everyone, so please stop by!

Service Club Meetings:  The Club’s next meeting will be on January 4, 2024 and January 18, 2024 at 10:00 a.m. at the POC Community Center.  All Ladies are welcome!

Garage Sales: The Club is in full swing preparing for our Spring Mega Garage Sale,  scheduled for April 6, 2024, and is gratefully accepting your generous donations of household, kitchen, and decorative items; small appliances; clothes; shoes; toys; children’s and baby items, etc. Due to limited space, we cannot accept furniture at this time, and we can never accept mattresses because we cannot resell them. For information, please contact one of the Service Club Ladies listed below:

Alane Haardt- 281-416-6028
Nancy Ladshaw- 830-832-0510
Marie Hawes- 361-676-3093
Nan Burnett- 832-276-5948

The Ladies of the POC Community Service Club wish you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Service Club’s Community Champions presented by Diane Cooley

Marie Hawes

Mary & Troy Wygrys

Nancy Ladshaw

Troy Beaudry

The Ladies of the POC Community Service Club donated $15,000 to the Community Center Association to help them complete Phase 2 of the “POC Community Center Facelift Project”.
The Club thanks the wonderful citizens of POC for their generous support of our fundraisers, which allow us to give back to POC in ways such as this!!
Merry Christmas everyone!!

Best Overall – Kyle Rassumussen

Best Large Pleasure Boat – Wayne Hutto

Wow, we can’t believe it’s the Holiday Season again! We hope that everyone takes advantage of Shopping Local, in Port O’Connor, for their Christmas Gifts! We have so many wonderful shops offering a variety of gifts for your loved ones and family! On Thursday, December 14th, we had our first POC Shop the Town. Participating storefronts were Jeco’s Marine and Tackle, Sisters Gift Shop, POC Rod & Gun, The Spot Coastal Gifts, Jo Beth’s Creations, Studio 14, Coral Reef Shell Shop, and Xandra Ann’s Art.

The Chamber fed the boaters of the Freeport to Port O’Connor Toy Run this year, upon their arrival at Clark’s Inn. Thank you to members Dean and Peeler Meat Market for selecting the briskets and to Texas Chrome Outdoors for cooking them. The Lighted Boat Parade was awesome this year! There was a total of 24 boats that participated, lighting up the Intracoastal Canal with Christmas spirit! We want to thank Charlie & Susan Upshaw for hosting the judges at their home/dock. It’s the perfect place to get a closeup viewing of all the hard work that goes into decorating and lighting of the watercraft. Thank you also to Hurricane Junction for hosting the presentation of awards. Winners were as follows: Best Large Pleasure boat went to Tails Up, Wayne Hutto, in a 45’ Cabo decorated in beautiful green lights all around it. Best Medium Pleasure boat went to Side Chick, Matthew Binford, in a 25’ Shallow Sport with Palm Trees and Candy Canes. Best Small Pleasure boat winner was Baby Blue, Curtis Maxwell, in a Majek Illusion which was very colorful and a cute dog on the front. Best Commercial boat was a tie between the two Indianola Fishing Marina boats, both 25’ Dargels captained by John Long and Everett Lorenz. The Most Unique boat was awarded to Sea Tow, Brennen Larson, with their rescue boat towing Santa in an Airboat! Most Spirited went to Ben Cates, in a 24’ Carolina Skiff, with Santa and an Alligator. Best Overall boat went to In Deep, captained by Kyle Rassmussen, donning a live guitar player in a 32’ Boston Whaler…. Awesome music!! All boats were very decorated, and it was a hard decision for the judges. Thank you to all that participated!
Every year, at our annual meeting in December, five (out of ten) Chamber Directors are elected for a two-year term. Newly elected Directors for 2024 are Darla Parker, Dawn Ragusin, Brent Hart, Steven Guevara and Ross Harlow. We are very excited to have Ross onboard with us, bringing lots of new ideas and support to the Chamber!
Our annual membership drive begins in January, running through the end of February. Please be on the lookout for your membership renewal in the mail. Business memberships are available for $100, as well as individual/couple memberships for $35. Printable applications are available and/or you can also renew or join online at our website: www.portoconnorchamber.com.
Don’t forget the POC Chamber of Commerce hosts the Farmers Market on the second Saturday of each month, from 8am – 12pm, at King Fisher Pavilion. This event gives the opportunity for rising businesses to sell their goods to the community. All items sold must be homemade or homegrown to participate. We have some amazing vendors with jams, produce, eggs, handmade crafts and arts, pasta, breads, sauces, and much more! Guidelines and Application can be found on the Chamber website at www.portoconnorchamber.com/member/join
We want to welcome the following new members to the Chamber! POC Inflatables, LLC is a small local party rental company in POC with inflatable slides and bounce houses, tables and chairs, and more to come soon! Also welcome to Lamar Advertising of Victoria. Lamar has billboard opportunities in surrounding counties. Watch for our Port O’Connor ads while you are in Victoria! Also new to the POC Chamber is Bubba’s Seafood in Seadrift. Locally owned and operated, Bubba’s is a casual restaurant serving fresh seafood and home cooking. Be sure to follow our Chamber Facebook page for all their latest updates and news, as well as their business listing on our website.
From everyone at the Port O’Connor Chamber of Commerce, Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to you and your loved ones! May your new year be filled with happiness and success.

Judith Bowman

Here’s a smiling face that many of our readers will recognize – she has probably helped you find what you’re looking for at POC Hardware, where she works with her father, Teddy Hawes. Judith lives in Port O’Connor with her husband Justin, sons Stephen and Blake, and near many of her relatives, including her mother, Jacque Berchard.

Christmas time is a perfect time to recognize Judith’s primary contribution to folks in Port O’Connor: the Angel Tree Program. She has been working with the program for the past 15 years, finding recipients and finding people willing to “adopt” a child. Parents provide the sizes of clothing and shoes of their children, then donors purchase these items for the child they pick. All this is done with strict confidentiality.

Presents are brought to the hardware store where Judith and her helpers sort them out and gift wrap them. If someone wishes to help a child but doesn’t have time to shop, they will do the shopping.

Judith stresses that this is truly a community effort. It really extends beyond our community, as the toys are provided by the annual Freeport to Port O’Connor Toy Run. “From the boats that deliver the toys and all their support crew, the volunteers that unload those boats, the people that haul the toys from place to place, the next group of volunteers that unload and sort the toys, then pack each child’s bag, the ones that adopt the kids, or donate to the program, the ones that shop when someone else can’t, the ones that help hand out the goodies to the parents…there’s just too many to name. But overall, it takes all of us in whatever area to pull this amazing program together.” Judith says.

This year there were more children served than ever – 63. That’s 20 more than last year.

“We get thank you’s from all the parents when we hand out the gift,” Judith said. “And every year there’s a couple that stand out and remind me why I truly enjoy doing this and being a part in bringing a Merry Christmas to a child that may not have had one. I’ve shared tears with parents overwhelmed with the generosity of the community.”

Toy Run arriving in Port O’Coinnor, bringing toys for POC children and many others in the surrounding area. -Photo by Mike Hessong

Cooler Weather and Christmas Spirit

Greetings from Matagorda Peninsula Island, everyone! I hope that all of you are doing well, and have your Christmas shopping lists dwindled down to a manageable number. About a week away before Santa will be making his rounds to leave presents and goodies for all of the wonderful boys and girls. Even at my not so youngish age, I still see Christmas as a magical time to give thanks to Jesus, and to be part of seeing the joy and excitement on the kids faces on Christmas Eve and morning.

The late Fall, early Winter clothing apparel has definitely come out of the storage totes from under the bed here on the island. Warm up pants, sweatshirts and the Carhartt hoodie have been the preferred clothing items to wear the past several weeks, and will be through the winter months. There have been a few occasional days that I was able to revert back to my shorts and T-shirt, but those days are quickly disappearing. And the late afternoon showers outside, where the water comes straight from the underground well and not heated, are definitely a thing of the past. Heck, that underground well water is cold in July, and it’s certainly unbearable by December. . no thank you! Inside the cabin showers with a propane on-demand water heater is the only choice now.

I’ve started to see the redhead ducks and beautiful white pelicans along the south bay shoreline of the island. The white pelicans start arriving to the Gulf coast this time of year when the temps start to get cooler, and they will stay until Spring, at which time they migrate to the areas of the Great Plains and Basin. I enjoy watching them in large pods as they make their way from the shoreline into the lagoon in front of the cabin, searching for baitfish in the shallow lagoon water, before they paddle their way back out into the bay waters.

Well, that’s it from the island for now. Everyone please try to take part in the Christmas spirit, and enjoy your holiday time with family and friends. Everyone have a wonderful Christmas, and a very happy and safe New Year.