BILOXI, Miss. (WLOX) - Former Gulfport mayor Billy Hewes was named the recipient of the John R. Blossman Humanitarian Award Thursday evening.

The award was handed out at the Mississippi Gulf Coast YMCA’s 16th annual awards ceremony. Hewes was picked for the honor after years of serving the coast.

Hewes represented Senate District 49 from 1992 until 2012. After that, he took on the role of Gulfport’s mayor for more than a decade.

He said it was humbling to receive the award

I’m a child of this community. I’ve grown up in it so I felt a duty to serve and have been in the industry whether it’s business or politics or civic organizations, being in some act of service," Hewes said. “The community is deserving of it, I’m not. The fact that they thought enough to do this is pretty meaningful.

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