Naples and Fort Myers Hooters Support Cancer Patients and Healthcare Partners

SWFL Hooters restaurants continue their year-round partnership to bring comfort and support to both Lee Regional Cancer Center in Fort Myers and the Cancer Clinic in Bonita Springs. Programs the SWFL Hooters location offer include “Wingo” and a “Lending Library”.

On Tuesday, June 30, Hooters partnered with Lee Health’s Cancer Support Center for dinner and “Wingo”, Hooters version of the game Bingo. Fort Myers Hooters employees Madeline Gonzalez and Payton Vest were joined by Taylor Zalich from Hooters Naples. Sixteen guests were served a warm meal provided by Hooters featuring boneless wings, pasta salad and garden salad. Beyond the meal, the evening continued with five engaging rounds of “Wingo”, each featuring a different winning pattern and culminating in a full blackout round, keeping the energy high and the room engaged throughout the night. The evening centered around community, comfort and distraction from the challenges of treatment.

The “Lending Library” initiative is a year-round program the SWFL Hooters restaurants created to assist those facing breast and other types of cancer. Every month as part of the Lending Library, Hooters employees restock and reorganize an assortment of additional books for patients to read, word searches, coloring books, writing utensils and bookmarks. On June 6, Paige Roberts from the Fort Myers Hooters location visited and refreshed two separate lending library carts in the infusion center at Lee Regional Cancer Center in Fort Myers.

On June 1, Naples Hooters employees Taylor Zalich and Kelly Deihl made their monthly Lending Library visit to Bonita Community Health Center in Bonita Springs. During this visit, Taylor and Kelly sorted through the current lending library cart, refreshed the inventory, plus added a variety of fresh new reads into the mix.

“We are dedicated to serving our community with our Lending Library and Wingo initiatives. Each month Wingo has continued to grow in popularity. It’s been wonderful seeing many familiar faces return while also welcoming new participants each visit,” said Taylor Zalich from Naples Hooters.

“Our goal is to provide a welcoming, uplifting and supportive environment for patients of all ages and their families during their treatments. We added Wingo at the beginning of the year to offer an activity for patients and their families to participate in during dinner,” said Hooters of South Florida Director of Marketing Kristi Quarles.

The Lending Library program is part of South Florida’s Hooters’ ongoing commitment to give back to the community. Since 2022, Hootie’s Lending Library has provided over 16,400 books to the local hospitals in Southwest Florida at the Lee Regional Cancer Center in Fort Myers and the Cancer Clinic in Bonita Springs and to several children’s hospitals in South Florida.

Hooters of Fort Myers is located at 4411 Cleveland Avenue in Fort Myers. Hooters of Naples is located at 3625 Gateway Lane in Naples. Hooters of South Florida, owns and operates 15 locations. For more information about South Florida Hooters and their community involvement please visit www.HootersFlorida.com or follow us at Instagram @SouthFLHooters and Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hootersflorida/.