The Hispanic Chamber of Commerce held its monthly membership meeting on June 13th. Thank you to our sponsors of Whitehead Memorial Museum, Casa de la Cultura, and Silver Eagle Distributors. The guest speakers that were presented were Lupita De La Paz , Executive Director of Casa de la Cultura and Micheal Diaz, Director of the Whitehead Memorial Museum.

The Del Rio Hispanic Chamber of Commerce held their first monthly membership meeting of the year at city hall on Thursday January 11th. The City of Del Rio sponsored January’s meeting and gave a small presentation of the citywide projects that were completed during the previous year.
City Manager Henry Arredondo highlighting several projects during his presentation stated that the city repaved 16.1 miles of roads throughout the city. The Civic Center received a new roof and improvements to its landscape. New sidewalks were built on North Main Street and over 8,000 feet of new gas pipes were installed throughout town.
“Our main objective is to provide basic services (to the city)” said City Mayor Robert Garza.
According to Arredondo the city is preparing to renovate the Paul Poag Theatre and the San Felipe Creek this year.
Attendees enjoyed light refreshments. Door prize winners include Alejandra Calderon owner of Classic Cuts, The Hair Studio, Raphael Garza and City of Del Rio worker Margie Montez.

Robert’s Jewelers, Jennie Roe, and Blanca Campbell were the hosts for the September 12th Membership meeting of the Del Rio Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.  Members were regaled with a colorful spread of finger food and Mexican confections in celebration of the Diesiseis de septiembre celebration going on in the city.  Margie Montes and her staff gave information on the new toll booths at the port of entry and the service amenities that are in place and forthcoming at the new location, amenities that will make for a more fluid movement of traffic for everyone, but in particular for workers who must make the crossing daily.  A generous number of door prizes were raffled off with many of the 25 attendees going home with nice gifts provided by Jennie Roe, Ramada Inn, Ashley Furniture, the Campbell family, Del Rio News Herald.

​Thursday, August 10th was the monthly membership meeting of the Del Rio Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. The gracious  Host business for the evening was the Border Federal Credit Union at its Bedell location.  DRHCC president Otila Gonzalez welcomed the membership and thanked them and the host business.  Following, President Gonzalez announced that the announced guest speaker for the evening, our State Representative the Honorable Poncho Nevares could not attend at the last minute.
In the absence of a featured speaker, Annual Masquerade Gala chairperson, Ms. Alida Helgerman reported on the progress of preparations for the October 28th event.  Table sales are ongoing and tickets are ready for sale at this time.  She encouraged everyone to reserve their table and/or purchase tickets early.  As in 2016, the Gala will also feature the raffle of a Holiday Basket and will include a Silent Auction with many beautiful items donated by local businesses.
The honorable Robert Garza, Mayor of the City of Del Rio joined City Manager Henry Arredondo in updating those in attendance about the various ongoing infrastructure projects and the important role that airline service plays in the economic development of our community.  Mayor Garza announced that a delegation formed of members of the city’s Bridge Board, the local chambers of commerce, a contingency of Ports to Plains, and members of the Ciudad Acuna chamber and city administration will travel to Mazatlan, Sinaloa Mexico to promote and advocate for getting some of the movement of Asian market goods to come through our port of entry.  The increase in truck traffic through our international bridge will add revenue to the city’s coffers for local infrastructure improvements.
The presentations were well received, the meeting was adjourned and the social hour continued..