Nacogdoches County: Hopes to be certified

The Nacogdoches County Chamber of Commerce has submitted a county-wide community assessment and application to become a Texas Certified Retirement Community (CRC).
The Chamber's Retiree Marketing Committee - chaired by Doug and Joyce Swearingen - assembled the information for the Texas Department of Agriculture and gathered the $15,000 fee from several sources.
The City of Nacogdoches contributed $7,500 and 29 other companies and individuals invested contributions for the remaining $7,500.*
Nacogdoches County will be the designated government entity on the application. The CRC designation will be part of the Chamber and its partners' marketing efforts to encourage retirees to relocate to East Texas, and specifically Nacogdoches County.
"We are also involved in a joint Lufkin-Nacogdoches effort, and are part of the Texas Forest Country campaign, a 12-county effort of the Pineywoods Economic Partnership," said Doug Swearingen.
Once the application is accepted, Nacogdoches County will be one of the first Texas counties or cities to be included in the Texas CRC marketing campaign.

Contributing to the $15,000 CRC Application Fee were the following:
* $7,500: City of Nacogdoches
* $1,000: Citizens 1st Bank, Nacogdoches Memorial Hospital
* $500: Austin Hills, BancorpSouth, Fredonia Hotel, Nacogdoches Medical Center
* $250: 1st Choice Realty - Linda Heddins, A.G. Edwards, Charles Pool Real Estate, Coldwell Banker Choice Realtors, Heritage Title, Landmark Realty, Nacogdoches Abstract & Title, Nacogdoches Board of Realtors, Timber Springs
* $200: Doug and Joyce Swearingen, S. Carney Realtors
* $150: Brad Fontenot State Farm
* $100: 1st Choice Realty - Mary Jane McDuffie, Alamo Realty, Austin Bank, Axley & Rode, Edward Jones, Leon and Patsy Hallman, R&K Distributors, SFA Dept. of Gerontology, Sports Shack, Still Financial and University Rental. More than 30 letters of support were also contributed.