June Johns
O’Maddy’s Cancer Fundraiser
O’Maddy’s restaurant will host a fundraiser May 27 for a local woman with breast cancer. Gulfport City Council voted May 2 to approve the establishment’s special event permit so it can happen.
Joe Guenther of O’Maddy’s informed the council that the fundraiser is for Rachel McQuillan, a 41-year-old single mother of four young children. She recently had a double mastectomy because of breast cancer, he added.
“A full-time mom, a hard-working woman, a great person,” he said. “We are just doing our best to help out a Gulfport resident.”
Guenther proposed closing 54th Street on the east side of O’Maddy’s, at the end of Shore Boulevard. The restaurant will donate 100% of its proceeds that day to McQuillan and her family.
“We are trying to get all the food, beverages, things like that donated from local vendors,” said Guenther. “Everyone so far has been very receptive. It’s a good cause.”
City staff recommended approval of the request, noting that O’Maddy’s has successfully hosted such events in the past. The vote to approve the request was unanimous.
Other Gulfport Council Business
In other business, the council approved the reappointment of Don Howard as the fifth trustee on the Firefighters’ Pension Board. His most recent four-year term had expired.
Also approved was a change in facsimile signatures for the City. The previously approved method of using such signatures for daily City business requires that any two of three specific council appointees – city manager, finance director, and city clerk – have such authorization. An updated resolution was necessary because of the recent appointment of new city clerk Theresa Carrico, who succeeded the retiring Lesley DeMuth.
The council voted to approve a one-year agreement for information technology managed services with a new company, because the previous company recently announced that it no longer serves customers in the government and small business sectors.
View the council meeting here.
