CATERINAS CLUB
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Mission Statement
To provide warm meals, affordable housing assistance, and job training to homeless and low-income families throughout Southern California. This mission is supported by a vision where we create a modicum of consistency in the lives of homeless and severely low-income children through something as simple yet meaningful as a nightly dinner. We strive to provide every child with the resources, love, and encouragement they need to be healthy, safe, and educated.
About This Cause
Chef Bruno Serato founded Caterina's Club in 2005. As the Anaheim White House Restaurant owner, Serato began by hosting annual luncheons with a group of 75 women in honor of his mother, Caterina. Proceeds from these luncheons helped support services for youth through the Boys and Girls Clubs of Anaheim, a long-time recipient of Bruno's donations. During a visit to the club, Bruno and his mother realized many of the children were eating potato chips for dinner; this sparked Caterina's Club's mission of ending childhood malnutrition and hunger. Using his resources as a restaurant owner, Bruno began feeding these children, many of whom lived in motels or other substandard living conditions. What started as a simple hot meal for one hungry "motel child" at a Boys and Girls Club in Anaheim has turned into an international campaign to help end childhood hunger. Orange County is known for its beauty and lavish lifestyles, but what is lesser known is the plight of "motel families." These are families headed by hard-working parents, often earning poverty-level wages. Some have lost their home due to job loss or circumstances beyond their control. Children in these families may get government-subsidized meals at school during the week but have limited access to affordable, nutritional evening or weekend meals and are considered part of a growing "food insecure household" population. Through our Feeding the Kids in America program, Caterina's Club serves 5,055 dinners every night to severely low-income children at 109 different after-school program sites spread throughout 30 cities in Orange, Los Angeles, San Bernardino, and San Diego Counties. Executive Director Bruno Serato expanded this mission to provide qualified working families in motels, shelters, or unstable housing with relocation assistance by paying first and last month's rent and security deposits on a family-friendly apartment. In the past 17 years, Caterina's Club has funded permanent housing for 248 families. The organization is committed to addressing the county's lack of affordable housing and access to nutritious, affordable food for our community's most vulnerable. The Chef Bruno Hospitality Academy is a comprehensive extended learning opportunity for at-risk students to understand all aspects of the restaurant industry, including cuisine, nutrition, restaurant service, and management. The Hospitality Academy has partnered with the School Districts since our first fall semester in 2016 and has served over 695 students who have participated in career mentoring and/or paid internships.