Coastal Friends welcomes new members
In March, Coastal Friends celebrated its 25th anniversary as a women's social club in the Ponte Vedra/Jacksonville area. Formerly known as Newcomers Alumnae, Coastal Friends was formed a quarter of a century ago as a result of women wanting to continue their friendships and activities after being required to graduate from another local Newcomers club.
Coastal Friends is a social group of women who live in Ponte Vedra Beach, Nocatee, Jacksonville, Jacksonville Beach, Atlantic Beach, Neptune Beach, St. Augustine and the surrounding area. Some of the many activities offered are: adventures and outings, book club, canasta, happy hour, periodic lunches at local restaurants, mah jongg and wine socials.
Additionally, monthly luncheons with an accompanying guest speaker are held at Marsh Landing Country Club on the first Wednesday of every month except for July and August.
New members are welcome throughout the year. Contact brookemeister@msn.com for more information on how to join.
Democratic Club to meet
The Ponte Vedra Democratic Club will meet Monday, July 17, at the Ponte Vedra Branch Library, 101 Library Road. Chat and chew at 5:30 p.m., meeting at 6 p.m. The featured speaker will be Rachael Grage from the Democratic Women's Club with a legislative wrap-up of Tallahassee's 2023 bills.
For further information, email jkary@verizon.net.
Palm Valley Market every Tuesday
The Palm Valley Market is held from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. every Tuesday inside the Palm Valley Community Center, 148 Canal Road. The market offers fresh produce, baked goods, local honey, tea, seasonal treats, soap, jewelry, plants and more.
Military families admitted free to MOCA Jacksonville
MOCA Jacksonville has joined forces with Blue Star Museums and CSX to offer free admission to the families of active duty and former military and first responders through Labor Day weekend. The Blue Star Museum initiative is a collaboration between the National Endowment for the Arts, Blue Star Families, the Department of Defense and more than 2,000 museums nationwide that wish to show appreciation for military families who face multiple deployments and reintegration challenges.
To take advantage of this program, bring valid military or first responder identification. Those who qualify are welcome to bring up to five family members. Learn more about visiting MOCA Jacksonville at mocajacksonville.unf.edu.
Access to broadband internet expanded
On Friday, July 7, Gov. Ron DeSantis awarded about $247 million through the Broadband Infrastructure Program to connect more than 59,000 unserved and underserved businesses, homes, farms and anchor institutions like hospitals and libraries to high-speed internet.
Infrastructure deployment through 63 strategic projects in 43 Florida counties ensures that Florida residents have reliable and efficient access to workforce, education and health monitoring opportunities for generations to come.
These awards are in addition to the $226 million in Broadband Opportunity Grant funding already awarded to 53 counties to expand broadband internet access to unserved areas across the state. That funding will connect more than 250,000 homes and businesses.
Some of the projects funded through the Broadband Infrastructure Program will be in St. Augustine and Hastings. In all, 25.8 miles of fiber optic cable will be installed to provide 141 unserved locations within St. Johns and Flagler counties with symmetrical download and upload speeds of 1GB. The cost for those projects is about $1.4 million.
— Compiled by Shaun Ryan
