Ahmed El-Gendy Wants To Stay Lehigh Acres Honorary Mayor

2012 Honorary Mayor
Ahmed El-Gendy

Ahmed El-Gendy wants to be the honorary mayor of Lehigh Acres again for the coming year. He is the first to announce his bid to run again and “buy votes” from the public to help him keep his title.

The Honorary Mayor of Lehigh Competition is put on by the Greater Lehigh Acres Chamber of Commerce.

It works like this ……

You come up with a $50 fee and fill in an application that is on the chamber’s website. The honorary mayor contest has been going on for a couple of decades.

Because Lehigh Acres is not an incorporated community, local leaders years ago thought it would be a good idea to have an honorary mayor who could attend ceremonial events. And it would be a great way to raise money for local charities.

Honorary Mayor Ahmed El-Gendy is head of technology for his family’s medical practice, Florida Lung and Sleep Associates at 2625 Lee Blvd. Dr. Alla El-Gendy is his father.

The search for the new 2013 honorary or is underway beginning this week and Inke Baker said people who are interested should not wait to get an application. The winner will be announced at the Lehigh Spring Festival in March. The new honorary mayor will be given a sash and flowers before a crowd of hundreds on the outside stage.

Nobody knows how much money a contestant has raised because it is put into a special account.

Then the honorary mayor gets his or own convertible and is given a good spot in the final day Lehigh Spring Festival Parade which winds its way down Homestead Rd. with thousands of visitors on the sidewalks.

Last year, El-Gendy raised $2,680. Half of what he received went to the Chest Institute, a local foundation in Lehigh Acres that helps people with costs of medical treatment for lung and other chest disorders.

The person who raises the second highest amount becomes the deputy honorary mayor and that person stands in for the honorary mayor if he or she cannot attend functions. A third runner-up becomes the honorary “clerk of the court.”