Hello, Beaumont
Grab your coffee. It's a good morning to sit still for a minute.
Wet start to the week, clear finish. The weekend is the part that matters.
Now the good part. A man up Highway 69 put a rack outside his thrift store where everything is free, and he means it. That's the kind of thing this newsletter is for.
Also this week: the city wants to reroute your buses, a company just paid for a year of weekend meals for 1,600 kids, and Friday night the Jefferson is showing Singin' in the Rain, which is either terrible timing or perfect.
This Week Around Town
More Ways to Get Where You're Going
The City has a new map in mind for BMT ZIP, and the point of it is fewer trips downtown just to catch another bus. The Magnolia and Pine routes would combine into one, and the Laurel/North 11th route would stretch along Delaware and Dowlen, putting jobs, groceries, and shopping within easier reach for many riders. Paratransit service isn't going anywhere, and weekday hours stay the same. Saturday service would run 7 to 6 instead of into the evening.
Nothing's decided. Council takes it up September 22, and the maps are online now if you want a look first.
1,600 kids eat on the weekend.
Bayou Bend CCS handed the Southeast Texas Food Bank a $45,000 check for its Backpack Program. That program quietly sends a bag of food home with more than 1,600 kids at 46 area schools every Friday, so the weekend doesn't mean going hungry.
The kids who get those bags will never know where the money came from. Now you do.
Around Town
Big Thicket Association, Neches River Rally · Wed · Salt Water Barrier, 6795 Bigner Rd. Kayak and canoe paddle on the Neches.
Wine Dinner with Master Sommelier Guy Stout · Wed · Bon Vivant · $153 plus tax
First Thursdays at Bon Vivant + Burns Antik Haus · Thu, 12 to 8 pm · Bon Vivant · free. Photographer Dennis Moncla, artist Keri Smith, and a book signing with author Roy Phelps. Artists start at 2.
BNI Elite Circle, First Official Meeting · Thu, 1 to 2:30 pm · Lumberton MUD, 625 FM 421 · RSVP. A brand new chapter getting started in Hardin County.
On Stage
Jamie Lin Wilson · Thu, 6:30 pm · Courville's Catering
Classic Movie Night · Singin' in the Rain · Fri, doors 6, film 7 · Jefferson Theatre · $6 adults, $4 kids under 12
MADAM RADAR · Fri, 7 pm · 7 Oaks Event Garden
Faith For My Family Stage Play · Sat, doors 5, play 6 · Jefferson Theatre · $20, $35 premium, $50 VIP
Double Knockout · Sat, 8 pm · Texas Rose Saloon
Coming Up
BBB Professional Women's Conference, powered by Baptist Hospitals of Southeast Texas · Thu, Sept 10, 8 am · Doggett Ford Park
Classic Movie Night · West Side Story · Fri, Sept 11, doors 6, film 7 · Jefferson Theatre · $6 adults, $4 kids under 12
Bingo Loco · Sat, Sept 12, 7 pm · Doggett Ford Park. DJs, dance-offs, lip-sync battles, confetti. Bingo, but loud.
VIVA Beaumont Hispanic Heritage Festival · Sun, Sept 13, 3 to 8 pm · Main Street, Downtown · free. Tejano, mariachi, folklorico, lucha libre, food trucks. Come find the love, Beaumont booth.
ABRA Cadabra, the Music and Magic of ABBA · Fri, Sept 18, 7:30 pm · Jefferson Theatre
Bored Teachers, Is It Friday Yet?! Comedy Tour · Sat, Sept 19, 7:30 pm · Jefferson Theatre
Go 4 The Bell Gala with Chris Cagle · Sept 19 · Beaumont Civic Center
Parker McCollum · Sat, Sept 26 · Doggett Ford Park
The Bulb Hunter, seminar and bulb sale · Tue, Sept 29 · Beaumont Botanical Gardens · registration to come
Worth Knowing
There's a thrift store on Highway 69 just south of Warren with a rack out front where everything is free. You read that right. Free.
That's David Cook's doing. He runs Ray's Hope, and the money the store brings in goes right back out to people around Southeast Texas who need something. Clothes. Appliances. He has paid for somebody's surgery.
Ask him where the cutoff is, and there isn't one. "Pretty much anybody who needs help. Anybody. That's it, they show up to our doorstep. If I can't help, we're gonna find a resource."
KFDM, Fox Southeast Texas, and Riceland Healthcare named him August's Hometown Hero. He said he wasn't expecting it, and that what he really wants is for more people to know the place is there.
So now you know. It's about forty minutes up 69 and worth the drive. Ray's Hope, Inc. and Ray's Hope Thrift Store are both on Facebook, or call the store at (409) 547-5026.
Noted
SAVE THE DATE
Girls' Haven Casino Night is Friday, September 25 at the Downtown Event Centre. The Beaumont nonprofit gives girls in foster care a stable home and a shot at a normal childhood.
On the Market
Click here to view
Click here to view
Click here to view
Byte By Byte
Small AI tips that save you time.
Byte by Byte, part 5 of 6. New here? This is a series. Start anywhere, or go back to the beginning anytime.
This week: Keep the ones that work
Here's the part almost everybody skips. You'll ask AI something one day, get exactly what you needed back, feel great about it, and then never remember how you asked. So you start from scratch every time.
Fix it in about ten seconds. Open the notes app on your phone. Make one note called Prompts That Work. Every time something comes back good, paste in what you asked. That's the whole system.
In a month you'll have five or six you reach for over and over. The weekly social post. The polite decline. The email you never know how to start. That's not a trick you learned from somebody. That's yours.
Try it: make the note today, even if it's empty. Next good answer you get, paste the question in.
That's this week's. Hit reply and tell me what you'd want help with next.
You Decide
The Jefferson is running a classic movie every Friday this month, on the big screen, in a theatre that's been standing since 1927.
Which one are you going to?
Before You Go
The good stuff is out there; it's just scattered across a dozen places nobody has time to check. Gathering it up is the whole job.
Pick one thing in here and go do it. Then tell somebody about it.
See you around town.
Jenny Lee · Locally written. Community trusted.