Motel Kids Program achieves two milestones, now feeding 1,000 underprivileged each night and $1 million milestone. Caterina’s Club has served 650,00 kids and now at 10 Orange County locations in 5 Orange County cities.
At the direction of his mother nine years ago, OC restaurateur Bruno Serato, owner of the Anaheim White House, served up pasta dinner for 300 hungry “motel” children, so named because their poor, working class parents are relegated to living in cheap, crime-filled motels. Today, he and his team not only visit the original Boys & Girls Club of Anaheim to serve the children there, but they have expanded their reach to 1,000 motel kids at 10 different locales in 5 OC cities.
The public will learn about the program’s expansion at the Boys & Girls Club of Anaheim gala on Saturday, March 22, but they will learn of another milestone that Caterina’s Club will have donated $1 million in food and services to the Boys & Girls Club since the program began 10 years ago. Tickets for the fundraiser, taking place at 6 p.m. at Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel and Spa, are $200 each, a portion of which is tax-deductible. During the evening’s festivities, the Anaheim Ducks will be honored with the Bruno Serato Service to Youth Award. For ticket information, call 714-491-3617.
A CNN Hero for his philanthropic work, Serato was recently recognized on the Vatican’s own television network for the extraordinary lengths he took to keep the program growing despite personal sacrifice. i.e., he mortgaged his home to keep the program running. He has since been featured in media all around the world and hopes to inspire others to get involved in the communities in which they live. He was also knighted by the Italian government, received a humanitarian award on the steps of the U.S. Capitol, honored by the Good News Foundation, received any number of proclamations, Man of the Year awards and other forms of recognition.
Posted by Cynthia Le
03/12/14
