In a spirited move for Southwest Florida’s water quality, Doc Ford’s Rum Bar & Grille recently donated $5,000 to support Captains For Clean Water and help spread its mission.

“We’re thrilled to support Captains For Clean Water and help raise awareness of the local water quality issues we face here in Southwest Florida,” said Joe Harrity, a partner with HM Restaurant Group, the parent company of Doc Ford’s Rum Bar & Grille. “We are all impacted by the health of our local waterways – from the Gulf of Mexico to the Florida Everglades and our many rivers and lakes.”

Earlier this year, Doc Ford’s created the new Send It South cocktail and with every purchase, Doc Ford’s will donate $1 from every drink to the nonprofit organization’s mission of restoring and protecting Florida waters for the use and enjoyment of all. Send It South, a refreshing and tasty combination of mango and silver rums, blue Curaçao, pineapple and soda water, is now available at Dixie Fish Company on Fort Myers Beach and Doc Ford’s four locations on Sanibel, Fort Myers Beach, the St. Petersburg Pier and Jungle Terrace in St. Petersburg.

Philanthropy and community outreach are engrained in HM Restaurant Group’s company philosophy. In addition to Captains For Clean Water, proceeds from specialty cocktails at Doc Ford’s also support children’s hospitals. HM Restaurant Group also supports local nonprofits dedicated to conservation, community and the environment. The “Ding” Darling Doc Ford’s Tarpon Tournament has raised nearly $1.3 million for Sanibel’s J.N. “Ding” Darling National Wildlife Refuge since 2012. The 13th annual tournament will be held May 9, 2025.

A grassroots nonprofit, Captains For Clean Water was founded in 2016 by fishing guides concerned about Florida’s water management practices and the impact 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.

Doc Ford’s Rum Bar & Grille is open daily from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. with locations on Sanibel Island, Fort Myers Beach, the St. Petersburg Pier and Jungle Terrace in St. Petersburg.