JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The community gathered Wednesday night to raise money for Hamburger Mary’s employees affected by the devastating fire that destroyed the well-known Jacksonville restaurant.
An early Thursday morning electrical fire broke out one hour after closing and caused significant damage to the 11-year-old restaurant.
Karrissa T. Wade helped organized the bingo fundraiser at 9 Ball Heaven Sports Grill to give back to a business that’s constantly helping raise money for others.
“You literally lost your livelihood,” Wade said. “You have children. You have families. You have partners and there’s no money coming in. JEA doesn’t take, ‘I’m sorry the place burned down.’ It doesn’t work that way.”
GoFundMe: Help Hamburger Mary’s Jax Employees
Wade said between this fundraiser and others that are planned, she is hoping to raise around $25,000 for the employees and plans to split that amount evenly between the workers.
“If you don’t do that, it’s not fair,” Wade said. “It’s not transparent. So my goal is everyone is treated equal just like we should be in life.”
The staff and owners of Hamburger Mary’s were devastated by the fire. Gary Motes, one of the original owners of the Jacksonville location, told News4JAX the restaurant closed about an hour before the fire started.
The fire was seen by employees who came to drop off some people at their cars and noticed the smoke.
Hamburger Mary’s opened in 2012. Motes, said his daughter took over the franchise on Beach Boulevard in 2019.
He said not only was the building a total loss but they also lost irreplaceable memorabilia and letters that people sent to them about how Hamburger Mary’s shows changed their lives.
Motes said the fire was devastating because it happened right before what was expected to be a huge money maker for the place.
“This would have been a big weekend for Katy, her staff,” Motes said. “It would have been our first step out of the negative publicity and back into the positivity that we love.”
Wade noted that she was thankful for businesses like 9 Ball for being willing to allow her to hold an event to help another local business.
It’s something the general manager of the sports grill said he was glad to help with.
“Anything we can do to for any local business in jeopardy, you know, we’re more than willing to do just like hopefully, if we had hard times other businesses would help us,” Carl Grady.
And Wade hopes fundraisers like Wednesday night’s, make a difference for those workers in need.“ Hopefully we can guide a little bit until they get unemployment, new jobs, etc. Just to ease the pain a little,” Wade said.
Motes appreciates the support and said the community came “on board to help our staff.”
For more updates on the fundraisers, visit their Facebook page and website.