HM Restaurant Group donates $3,347 for local clean water initiatives

HM Restaurant Group, the parent company of Doc Ford’s Rum Bar & Grille, raised $3,347 toward improving the health of the Florida Everglades and Florida Bay through sales of the speciality Send it South cocktail, launched in April 2024. The funds, raised $1 at a time through each drink sold, was donated to Captains For Clean Water, a nonprofit organization dedicated to restoring and protecting Florida waters for the use and enjoyment of all.
“We are excited to present this donation to Captains For Clean Water and support its mission of raising awareness and spearheading change that addresses local water quality issues,” said Joe Harrity, a partner with HM Restaurant Group. “Clean water and the health of Florida’s waterways are crucial to our unique environment. We are thrilled by the success of Send It South in a little over half a year and grateful to our customers who recognize the opportunity to make a difference one dollar at a time.”
Flavorful and refreshing, Send It South mixes mango and silver rums with blue Curaçao, pineapple and soda water. It’s available at Doc Ford’s four locations on the St. Pete Pier and Jungle Terrace in St. Petersburg and Sanibel Island and Fort Myers Beach in Southwest Florida.
As a locally owned company, HM Restaurant Group sponsors a number of projects benefiting local communities. Its successful Hospital Drinks initiative earmarks $1 from select specialty cocktails at Doc Ford’s to Golisano Children’s Hospital of Southwest Florida and John Hopkins All Children’s Hospital in St. Petersburg. The program has raised over $133,000 since its inception.
A grassroots nonprofit, Captains For Clean Water was founded in 2016 by fishing guides concerned about the impact of Florida’s water management practices on estuaries’ 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 – a practice linked to blue-green algae and red tide plaguing South Florida’s waterways. Send It South refers to the group’s awareness campaign advocating 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.