Facebook Group Provides a Voice

Stonewall Jackson2

The historic Stonewall Jackson

By JACOB LOPEZ
Editor
Editor@sbnewspaper.com

Nancy Cooper Bohnenberger is the founder of Growing Up San Benito, a Facebook group dedicated to preserving the culture of the Resaca City by sharing links, old news clippings and photos.

Ironically, she isn’t from San Benito. Bohnenberger grew up in Harlingen. “I’m a Cardinal,” she. Currently, she lives northeast of Edinburg, which makes one wonder why she would decide to start a page dedicated to living in San Benito. Simply put, she “was bored.”

Speaking more seriously, she said, “I got on Growing Up Harlingen, and I was not impressed with how they did things.”

She noticed that Growing Up Harlingen was full of angry commenters. A simple question could stir up a keyboard screaming match between members and often completely deviated from the original discussion.

That’s not how Bohnenberger wanted to do things with her page.

“I set up the guidelines … invites to my friends.  They sent out invites to their friends …,” she said, explaining the page’s beginnings.

It’s fair to say that she’d never planned for it to grow into what it has become.

Members of the San Benito Historical Society, the SBCISD board of trustees and even a city commissioner follow the group. In the year-and-a-half since its August 2013 launch, Growing Up San Benito has accumulated 1,576 subscribers and continues to grow.

It’s a testament to the ever-growing importance of social media in our everyday lives.

While the group’s updates usually revolve around the history of San Benito, it has also become a place where residents come to express their feelings on matters regarding their town. So long as members keep their discussions civil, the group is an open forum for anyone who wants to be heard.

The page itself is not part of any official city business, but many of the people who frequent the page are often the active, most outspoken members of the community.

According to Bohnenberger, the page is “supposed to be memories of growing up, living here (San Benito), finding old friends and making new friends.”

Still, she admits that her internet and social media skills have not yet caught up to the modern computing age. Luckily, other contributors have been able to keep it moving forward.

“Jesse Kirkland, he posts an inspirational message every morning,” said Bohnenberger.

One of the group’s key members is Leo Rodriguez, “Thank God for Leo,” she said, adding, “He is the heart and soul of the group.”

Rodriguez, according to Bohnenberger, began posting, moderating and maintaining the group shortly after he joined.

While Bohnenberger herself has never met Rodriguez in person, the two have built a friendship based on their work for the page.

Rodriguez, however, has even arranged a get together that gave members an opportunity to meet in person.

“I had no earthly idea how big it would get,” said Bohnenberger of the group.

But she is proud of “the fact that people have gotten on board and taken it to such a high level. We’ve been able to keep it clean. If it wasn’t for Leo, it wouldn’t be the page that it is.”

“It feels great,” she said about knowing that the Facebook group can be used as a way for members to take a peek into the history of San Benito, “… someone in our group will remember the history of these (historic) buildings.”

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.sbnewspaper.com/2015/01/28/facebook-group-provides-a-voice/

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