HM Restaurant Group, which manages Doc Ford\u2019s Rum Bar & Grille, Dixie Fish Company and Bonita Fish Company, donated $7,725 to Captains For Clean Water in honor of Storm Smart, supporting the nonprofit organization\u2019s mission of raising awareness and driving change to improve Florida\u2019s water quality.<\/p>\n
The money was raised $1 at a time from the sale of Send it South cocktails at Doc Ford\u2019s and Dixie Fish Company in 2025. The specialty drink program has raised a cumulative $11,072 since its introduction in April 2024.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are proud to support Captains For Clean Water and to make this donation in recognition of Storm Smart,\u201d said Joe Harrity, a partner with HM Restaurant Group. \u201cThrough their support of Captains For Clean Water, we are honored to designate these proceeds in their name. We\u2019re also grateful to our guests who ordered the drink knowing their purchase would help protect Florida\u2019s waterways.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sold at Doc Ford\u2019s four restaurants in Southwest Florida and St. Petersburg and Dixie Fish Company on Fort Myers Beach, Send it South is a refreshing mix of mango and silver rums, blue Cura\u00e7ao, pineapple and soda water.<\/p>\n
A grassroots nonprofit, Captains For Clean Water was founded in 2016 by fishing guides concerned about the impact of Florida\u2019s water management practices wreaking havoc on estuaries\u2019 unique plant and animal communities. The organization opposes the current-day procedure of discharging fresh water from Lake Okeechobee to the Caloosahatchee and St. Lucie rivers \u2013 a practice linked to blue-green algae and red tide plaguing South Florida\u2019s waterways, threating human health and crippling its economy. Send It South references the group\u2019s campaign that advocates a return to the natural southerly flow of critical freshwater through the Everglades and into Florida Bay, a process now impeded by dams, dikes and ditches built over a century ago. For more information, visit captainsforcleanwater.org.<\/p>\n
As a locally owned company, HM Restaurant Group sponsors a number of projects benefiting local communities. Its successful Hospital Drinks program donates $1 from select specialty cocktails at Doc Ford\u2019s to Golisano Children\u2019s Hospital of Southwest Florida and John Hopkins All Children\u2019s Hospital in St. Petersburg. The program has raised over $140,309 since its inception.<\/p>\n
HM Restaurant Group has a long history of philanthropy and community outreach, assisting charitable groups committed to conservation, community, education and the environment. Since 2012, the annual \u201cDing\u201d Darling Doc Ford\u2019s Tarpon Tournament has raised over $1.57 million for conservation and water-quality research at Sanibel\u2019s J.N. \u201cDing\u201d Darling National Wildlife Refuge. The 14th annual tournament is May 15, 2026.<\/p>\n
The company also supports F.I.S.H. of SANCAP, the Sanibel-Captiva Conservation Foundation, Sanibel CARES Philanthropy and other organizations. Restaurant employees donate their time to clean up local beaches and volunteer at a variety of Southwest Florida nonprofits. Renowned for delivering a legendary guest experience, Doc Ford\u2019s Rum Bar & Grille and Dixie Fish Company are open daily from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"HM Restaurant Group, which manages Doc Ford\u2019s Rum Bar & Grille, Dixie Fish Company and Bonita Fish Company,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":118155,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[209,211,210],"class_list":{"0":"post-132618","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cape-coral","8":"tag-cape-coral","9":"tag-cape-coral-headlines","10":"tag-cape-coral-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132618","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=132618"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132618\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/118155"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=132618"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=132618"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=132618"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}