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Starlight Diner, Beacon fund-raiser June 7

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The Beacon of H.O.P.E. will hold a fund-raiser in the parking lot of the Starlight Diner, at 1141 S.W. Pine Island Road, Cape Coral, Saturday, June 7.

“We will have entertainment all day,” Starlight co-owner Cathy Uhl said. “The Shrine Clowns will be here for the kids for breakfast from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. Then the Cruise-in Mustang Club will be here from 11 a.m. until 2 p.m. Sea Breeze Keyboard and Vocals will entertain from noon until 1 p.m. and finally, Brylcream will perform from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. Brylcream is a 1950s-60s doo wop group. People should bring their lawn chairs to listen to these two groups after the Drive-in.”

“We opened Starlight Diner just two months ago,” Uhl said. “There was another diner here before us that I managed. Unfortunately they couldn’t make it for a variety of reasons and when they closed their doors, my husband Bill and I decided to purchase it and rename it Starlight. We had five restaurants back home in St. Louis so we knew how to run a restaurant.”

Jim McLaughlin, former WINK anchorman and current board member at the Beacon of H.O.P.E., ate frequently at the previous diner and became friends with Uhl, then the manager.

“One day I stopped by the new Starlight Diner and saw Cathy,” McLaughlin said. “Just in the course of conversation I told her that I was a volunteer at the Beacon and that I was cooking meals for the kids. Then a day or two later Cathy came over and said , ‘We’re having a grand opening on June 7 and we would like to help the Beacon raise some money.’ So here we are.”

“When I started working on the purchase of the diner, and it looked like it was going to happen, I did a lot of research and found ‘No Kid Hungry,'” Uhl said. “This is a national campaign that connects kids in need with nutritious food. When I looked into it I found that they were only in major cities and they didn’t have anything local. So when Jim mentioned what he was doing, I thought ‘perfect’ that’s ‘No Kid Hungry’ and that’s how we can feed kids.”

To benefit the Beacon of H.O.P.E. the Cruise-in Mustang Club will hold a 50/50 drawing. Half will go to the Beacon of H.O.P.E. In addition, the Starlight Diner will hold a 50/50 raffle with donated items. A portion will go to the Beacon.

The Beacon of H.O.P.E. is at 5465 Pine Island Road in Bokeelia. For more information, call 239-283-5123.