"Restaurateur offers slice of thanks to first responders"
                                                 - Alvin Peabody
                                                          Pensacola News Journal

   "Pensacola police officer Adam McCoy came ready to capture a pizza-eating contest championship for the second year in a row.  
   'I've not eaten anything today, and I'm starving,' McCoy said a few minutes before he joined two other local first responders from the Pensacola Fire Department and Escambia County Sheriff's Office Monday in the contest at Georgio's Pizza on Cervantes Street.
   Since the Sept 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, Georgio's owner Carl Hixon started what has become a tradition; free meals, ordered from the menu, for every first responder- in or out
of uniform, on duty or off- who stopped by his restaurant on Sept. 11.
   'This event is our small way of saying thanks to these guys who make the ultimate sacrifice for us each and everyday,' said Hixon, who has owned the eatery since 1998."...
   ..."McCoy won the contest Monday, finishing one and a half pizzas within the allotted 10 minutes.
   'I'm always pleased to participate in an event of a worthwhile nature,' said McCoy, a New York native who is an 11 year veteran of the local police department.
   McCoy received several prizes: a pizza paddle plaque, $2,000 check, $500 in contributions from Georgio's Pizza patrons and a three-night stay at the Seahorse Condominium on Pensacola Beach that is owned by Hixon.
   McCoy donated his winnings to the family of Cory Jackson, a 19 year old Cantonment resident who suffered a tragedy last year after he dove into a wave on Pensacola Beach and fractured three vertebrae in his neck.
   Cory's father, Capt. Terry Jackson of the Pensacola Fire Department, was present at the pizza-eating contest Monday.
   'I'm really surprised and quite honored by this gesture', said Jackson..."

   


                
  

      

                         Georgio's Pizza
            Restaurant Neighbor Award
                          State Winner
                                   2006
      

                              -National Restaurant Association





"September 14, 2006

Dear Mr Hixon,

         On behalf of the Escambia County Department of Public Safety, I want to thank you for the generous variety of Pizzas  donated on September 11, in recognition of the mission of first responders.  Trust me when I say, although the pizzas were an unexpected treat and eagerly consumed, the gesture of recognizing our employees' contribution to the community was the true gift.
           Please also convey our appreciation to your employees who must have worked double-time throughout the day to bake the hundreds of extra pizzas you so generously contributed.  They should know that their efforts brightened the day of numerous people.

            Thanks again for your concern and thoughtfulness."

Yours truly,

Janice R Kilgore, CEM
Director