One of the many charities fighting hunger in Orange County.
Caterina’s Club is proud to be one of the most impactful nonprofit organizations for child hunger and among the leading charities fighting hunger in Anaheim and throughout Orange County. Founded by Chef Bruno Serato, our story is rooted in compassion, community, and the belief that no child should go to bed hungry.
Our Mission
Caterina’s Club’s mission is to provide warm meals, affordable housing assistance, and job training to homeless and low-income families throughout Southern California. Through nightly meals, stable housing support, and career pathways for teens, we aim to bring consistency, hope, and opportunity to children and families facing hardship.
Our Vision
What began as a simple effort to prevent children living in motels from going to bed hungry has grown into providing thousands of meals every day across more than 100 sites throughout Los Angeles and Orange Counties. Through our Welcome Home program, hundreds of families have been placed in permanent housing in safe neighborhoods, and hundreds of teens have received training through the Hospitality Academy at Anaheim high schools.
Our vision is to ensure every child has the resources, love, and encouragement they need to be healthy, safe, and educated.
Our Beginnings
It all started with Mamma Caterina. Bruno and his mother, Caterina, visited the Boys and Girls Club of Anaheim down the street from his restaurant, the Anaheim White House. There, Caterina noticed a 6-year-old boy eating potato chips for dinner because his family could not afford a proper meal. She insisted that Bruno make pasta for the child.
Soon they realized there were many more children facing the same situation. Bruno began making pasta for 72 children, five nights a week, giving birth to what is now our Feeding the Kids program.
Today, that small act of kindness has grown into providing thousands of meals every week to children living in underserved communities.
Frustrated that feeding the children alone was not enough, Bruno later launched a second program called Welcome Home, helping families living in motels move into safe and stable housing by providing the resources needed to secure an apartment or condo.
Our Mission
Our Vision
This overarching vision that started as preventing children in motels from going to bed hungry has turned into 5,055 vulnerable children receiving a meal every day at 114 sites throughout LA and Orange Counties; 268 families have been placed in permanent housing in safe neighborhoods through our Welcome Home program, and 850+ teens have trained through the Hospitality Academy at four Anaheim High Schools. Our vision is to provide every child with the resources, love, and encouragement they need to be healthy, safe, and educated.
Our Beginnings
It all started with Mamma Caterina. Bruno and his mother, Caterina, visited the Boys and Girls Club of Anaheim down the street from his restaurant (Anaheim White House), where his mother noticed that there was a 6-year old boy eating potato chips for dinner, because his family couldn’t afford a proper meal. Caterina insisted that Bruno make some pasta for the child. They soon realized that there were many more of these hungry ‘motel children’, so Bruno began making pasta for 72 children, 5 nights a week, giving birth to our program “Feeding the Kids in America”. Today, that event has expanded to feeding over 25,025 meals a week. Frustrated that feeding the children was not enough, Bruno began a second program called “Welcome Home”, where we provide qualified families, living in the dark environment of a motel, with the necessary resources to move into the safety and stability of an apartment or condo.
Our Achievements
5,055
Number of meals Caterina’s Club feeds each day
11.5 Million
Number of meals served to date
114
Number of sites in 32 cities
280
Number of families relocated to date.
900+
Students have participated in Chef Bruno’s Hospitality Academy.
Meet Chef Bruno Serato
The man behind it all.
The only chef in the world serving 5,055 underprivileged children warm meals, every day. Named one of CNN’s 10 Heroes of the Year and featured in magazines (People, Elle, Vogue, Riviera), television (CBS Evening News, CNN, Univision) and newspapers (New York Times, Los Angeles Times, OC Register) countless times. He was honored on the steps of the U.S. Capitol with a humanitarian award and perhaps his highest honor was being knighted by the Italian Government, earning him the title, Sir Bruno Serato. Today, he continues to run his highly successful Italian steakhouse and extends his generosity to many other nonprofits besides Caterina’s Club.
