Bulletin Board

Food For Thought Luncheon Make your reservations for the Food For Thought Luncheon, 11:30 a.m.- 1:30 p.m., June 17 at Baptist Orange Hospital. Guest speakers are: Jarren Garrett, Chief Administrative Officer, Amy Townsend, M.D., Hospitalist and Christina Warlick, Case Manager. Cost is $20 per person and food will be catered by Terry Gauthier, of the hospital. Contact Julia Myers at the Greater Orange Area Chamber of Commerce, 883-3536 for reservations. Space is limited so RSVP is mandatory.

Wiegand benefit set for Saturday A barbecue benefit and silent auction is planned for Rebyn Wiegand at 10 a.m. June 19 at the Bridge City Community Center. Wiegand has stage 4 kidney disease and needs help with mounting medical bills. The silent auction will include salon certificates, perm, cosmetics by Stephanie Ashworth of A Cut Above, photo shoots and purses. LifeShare Blood Center will also be on-hand to accept blood donations. Auction bidding ends at 5 p.m. Barbecue dinners cost $7 and can be pre-ordered by calling (409) 792-9909. Donations of silent auction items can be made by calling 792-9909. Monetary donations can be made at any Capital One Bank in Wiegand’s name.

Car wash/link sale A barbecue link sale and car wash to benefit the Bridge City Strutters is planned for Saturday, June 19, from 9:30 a.m.-2 p.m., at Gameday Car Wash, 2238 E. Roundbunch Road in Bridge City.

Golf tournament The Bridge City Chamber of Commerce’s annual golf tournament will begin with a shotgun tee-off time at 8 a.m. Saturday, June 19, at the Sunset Grove Country Club. Cost is $50 per player for a four-man scramble. Mulligans are $5 each, limit two per player. Sponsorships are $250 and $100. Prizes will be awarded to the first-place winners. For registration forms and sponsorship information, call the chamber at 735-5671.

Recovery Committee The next general meeting of the Orange County Long Term Recovery Committee is set for June 24 at 2:30 p.m. at Main Street Ministries, 335 N. Main St. in Vidor. The Case Management Committee will report on the first presentation of client cases still needing help in recovering from Hurricane Ike, among many other topics on the agenda. Local businesses, governmental agencies, nonprofit agencies, churches and faith-based organizations are invited.

BC ‘83 mini-reunion A Bridge City class of 1983 mini-reunion will be from 11:30 a.m.-11:30 p.m. Saturday June 26, at the Bridge City Knights of Columbus Hall. A group picture will be taken at 6:30. Suggested dress is “come as you are” and drinks, finger food and snacks will be BYOB. For information, call Monica Turmble-Lemoine at (409) 543-0411 or e-mail [email protected]; Nancy Flemming Borne, (409) 225-6254 ([email protected]) or Myra Rasbarry-Caillouet at (409) 670-3638 ([email protected]).

Red Hot Flashers The Red Hot Flashers of Orange will meet at the Taste of Orange on Interstate 10 on Thursday, June 17, at 11:30 a.m. Birthday ladies are: Lady Lily, Phyllis Packard and Lady Dakota, Marge Thomas. For more information, Queen Helene at 886-1609.

LSC-PA business events The Lamar State College-Port Arthur Small Business Development Center will present a free “Starting Your Own Business” workshop.

SBDC consultant Conrad Cooper will lead the Tuesday, June 22, workshop from 9 a.m.-noon at the Nederland Economic Development Commission office, 1903 Nederland Ave. The free business start-up workshops cover business plans, funding, employees and taxes for first-time business owners.

Attendance at one workshop is required prior to a new business owner’s first one-on-one meeting with a SBDC business consultant.

The SBDC offers individual consulting for small business owners at no charge.

The center helps prospective business owners by providing financial analysis, loan preparation assistance and help in setting up a business plan Reservations are required for all SBDC events.

For reservations, or more information, call 984-6531.

BC class of ‘65 Members of the Bridge City High School class of 1965 meet first Thursdays at 6:30 p.m. at Robert’s Restaurant in Orange. Class members and guests are welcome at the informal gatherings. For more information, call (409) 963-4859 or (409) 735-2918.

IRS grant applications The Internal Revenue Service is accepting applications for the Tax Counseling for the Elderly (TCE) and Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) grant programs, which will allow some organizations to apply for annual funding for up to three years.

Applications will be accepted through July 9.

Previous grant recipients will have the option to apply for up to three years of annual funding, which would reduce the amount of paperwork they must complete over a three-year period.

This annual funding will also help recipients with budget planning.

The 2011 application packages and guidelines will be available on the IRS Web site by June 1.

More information about the TCE and VITA grants is available in Publication 4680, TCE and VITA Grant Programs.

The IRS in 2010 awarded 24 TCE grantees $6.1 million and 147 VITA grantees $7.44 million.

Through mid May, the two grant programs filed more than 2.1 million returns at almost 9,000 sites nationwide.

The TCE program was established in 1978 to provide tax counseling and return preparation to persons age 60 or older and to give training and technical assistance to the volunteers who provide free federal income tax assistance within elderly communities across the nation.

The VITA Grant program was established in 2007 to supplement the VITA program, which was created in 1969.

VITA provides underserved communities with free tax filing assistance.

The grant program enables VITA to extend services to underserved populations in hardest-to-reach urban and non-urban areas, to increase the capacity of targeted taxpayers to file returns electronically, to enhance training of volunteers and to improve the accuracy rate of returns prepared at VITA sites.

Farmers’ Market continues The spring Farmers’ Market continues Saturday at the MacArthur Shopping Center in the Big Lot’s parking lot off MacArthur Drive in Pinehurst. Starting at 7 a.m., the market will be open until all vendors have sold their produce. Items include squash, cucumbers, snap beans, eggs, jams and jellies and baked goods, and possibly banana peppers and tomatoes. Produce varies from week to week. There is no charge for vendors. The market will continue each Saturday until the crops are no longer available. The Texas AgriLife Extension Program again sponsors the event. For more information, call Fregia at 745-4017 or 670-6121 or Jim Frazier at 276-1260.

Peltier fundraiser A fundraiser for Debbie Peltier, former owner of Handle Bar West, is being organized. Peltier has been diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer. The benefit will feature a golf tournament Saturday, June 26, at Terrell Park in Beaumont. Sponsors and players are needed. Also, on Sunday, June 27, the West Bar and Grill, 6445 Calder Ave. in Beaumont, will host a day of live music, raffle and silent auction. Donations and sponsors are needed, along with prizes for the drawings and auction. For more information, call 866-4733 or e-mail [email protected].

Fire safety/prevention camp Applications are being accepted for the Fire Museum of Texas’ Fire Safety and Prevention Summer Camp 2010.

Session one runs June 21-25 for children ages 4-6 years.

The second session, for ages 7-10 years, is June 28-July 2.

Both sessions run 9 a.m.-noon and costs $60.

Class is limited to the first 20 children per session.

No late or first day of camp registration will be accepted.

To register, print and complete the registration forms found at http://www.firemuseumoftexas.org (please include T-shirt size).

Mail to: Fire Museum of Texas, 400 Walnut, Beaumont, 77701.

The camp is sponsored by the Young Mens’ Business League.

Volunteers are needed.

For information, call 980-3927.

Stark reunion reset Members of the Lutcher Stark Senior High School classes of ‘49’, ’50 and ‘51 plan a reunion Friday and Saturday, June 18-19. Letters are being mailed to members’ last known address. To report an address change, call the appropriate class representative: 1949 – Fred Fontenot, 886-3978; 1950 – Betty (Estes) Duhon, 886-3150; 1951 – Mary (Broom) Morgan (979) 330-5350 as soon as possible.