PHOTO PROVIDED District 4 Councilmember Jennifer Nelson, along with Pam Cronin, owner of The Shell Factory, and Jay Johnson, owner of Bubba's Roadhouse, served up breakfast tacos this past Tuesday to raise $1,561 the United Way of Lee, Hendry, Glades and Okeechobee Counties.

If you happened to walk by Pops Kitchen in City Hall this past Tuesday, the smell of freshly made breakfast tacos filled the air in support of a local non-profit organization.

Cape Coral District 4 Councilmember Jennifer Nelson, along with some special help, served up breakfast tacos to city staff and raised $1,561 as part of the city’s ongoing fundraising efforts to benefit the Untied Way of Lee, Hendry, Glades and Okeechobee Counties.

“I’m a Texan, we love our breakfast tacos,” Nelson said of her idea on how to raise money for the local United Way. “I thought this would be a really fun way to get our city employees energized about the fundraiser and begin the education process.”

She bought all of the ingredients and worked with Shell Factory owner Pam Cronin and Jay Johnson, owner of Bubba’s Roadhouse.

More than 400 tacos were served up and filled with eggs, cheese, bacon, chorizo and potatoes.

“It was so much fun,” Nelson said. “We got great feedback from our city employees and we thank them for their donations.”

Nelson said the taco sale is part of a bigger mission for the city to give back to a volunteer organization dedicated to improving the quality of life for people in the community. All money raised by the United Way goes directly to meet the needs of Lee County and works to make Cape Coral a better place to live and to work. The United Way network, which is made up of 96 agencies and 260 programs, works hard to provide core services to residents in need.   

“Traditionally, the city of Cape Coral hasn’t raised as much money as maybe we could, because I think a lot of people are not educated on what the United Way does,” Nelson said.

Nelson said new City Manager Roberto “Rob” Hernandez was on board right away and put together a plan for staff to work raise awareness of all the non-profit does for local residents.

Other fundraising ideas Nelson said are in the works include raffle drawings for a lunch with the mayor or favorite council member, lunch with the fire chief and a tour of a station, and a day on the shooting range with the police chief.

For more on Bubba’s Roadhouse, please visit https://www.restaurantji.com/fl/cape-coral/bubbas-roadhouse-and-saloon-/

For more about the Shell Factory, please visit https://www.shellfactory.com/

–Connect with this reporter on Twitter: @haddad_cj