Caterinas Club

Caterina's Club's mission is to provide warm meals, affordable housing assistance, and job training to unhoused and low-income families in Southern California. This mission is supported by a vision where we begin to 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 the resources, love, and encouragement they need to be healthy, safe, and educated.

Caterina's Club was founded in 2003 by Chef Bruno Serato, the Anaheim White House restaurant owner. Initially, the restaurant informally provided a nightly hot pasta meal to the homeless children attending after-school programs at the local Boys and Girls Club. On April 18th, 2005, Bruno piloted the Feeding the Kids in America program after he and his mother, Caterina, learned of entire families living in local motels with little money to feed their children and no access to a kitchen to prepare food. With the increasing need and swift growth of this program, Bruno enlisted the services of a charitable fiscal sponsor to provide the infrastructure for mobilizing funds, volunteers, and additional program sites. Over the years, with the rapid growth in programs and the need to diversify funding and in-kind donations, Caterina’s Club applied for its own 501(c)3 status in 2012 and received full tax-exempt status on December 15, 2013. The Caterina's Club's mission later expanded from providing warm meals, affordable housing assistance, and job training to homeless and low-income families throughout Orange County. Today, 5,000 meals are served to vulnerable children and their families every night at 128 sites in 30 cities throughout Orange, Los Angeles, and San Bernardino Counties; over 277 families have been placed in permanent housing in safe neighborhoods through our Welcome Home program, and over 950 teens have been trained and graduated from our Chef Bruno’s Hospitality Academy. What began as a hot meal for a child has transformed into a holistic approach to lift families out of an endless cycle of poverty, unemployment, and unsafe housing. Caterina's Club takes a comprehensive approach to addressing the needs of low-income children affected by hunger and homelessness. The primary target population of all Caterina's Club programs is severely low-income children and their families, grades K-12, who are considered homeless, and families in temporary or unstable housing. 

Caterina's Club serves hot, nutritious meals to 5,050 children nightly in 30 different cities, operating out of 128 locations across Orange, Los Angeles, and San Bernardino counties through our Feeding the Kids in America program. We have moved 277 families from motels to safe, permanent housing with our Welcome Home program. Lastly, our Chef Bruno's Hospitality Academy program has mentored and graduated over 950 at-risk teens, helping to break the cycle of poverty and homelessness. As a result, many students have secured employment and paid internships. We provide on-site job training to equip these students with the tools to enter the workforce immediately after graduation.  

While each program has challenges, the cost of food and the decrease in in-kind food donations that began in 2021 still persist. Since Caterina's Club offers our food (individual meals, family meals, and our pantry and grocery packs) through our dozens of program partner sites, we are ineligible for food from either of Orange County's large food banks. Over the last two years, we have established relationships with food wholesalers and have also begun purchasing fresh produce weekly from Magnolia High School's Garden program (MACC). The Welcome Home Program also has challenges due to the high rental market in Orange County. While our families have working parents, the first and last month’s rent deposits can take some families up to 2 years to save for. The high rents and the costs of moving unhoused working families are challenging when an average 2-bedroom apartment can easily approach $ 2800-$3500, and landlords and management companies have become increasingly reluctant to rent to families with a break in their rental history or with damaged credit scores. We have begun to establish relationships with two large property management firms and a select group of landlords willing to work with our families.

The following are our goals to assist them over 12 months:
• Provide between 2-3M meals to between 175,000-200,000+ children and adults (79,000 households in OC and Southeast LA communities of Long Beach and its neighboring region).
• Place 15-18 OC families in secure and permanent housing, or be financially supported to stay in their current permanent housing.
• Chef Bruno Hospitality Academy will have 48-60 low-income teens participating in paid internships.

The 2025 Caterina’s Club organizational budget includes $2,777,846, with a program budget of $2,153,637 for the operation of all three programs. California food banks have faced a 15% cut in federal US Department of food donations. Although Caterina’s Club has never been a recipient of Food Bank programs due to our model of distributing meals through nonprofit partners, we are noticing a 20% increase in community requests for our meals. Each of our programs serves children, teens, and families at/or below the poverty level. Over a 12-month period, your support will assist with purchasing food and covering transportation costs for the Feeding the Kids program, provide targeted support for rental assistance through Welcome Home, and help purchase food and cooking supplies for teen students during each semester of training in the Hospitality Academy.

Stanton-90680Orange-92865,92867Anaheim-92805,92804, 92801, 92802Placentia-92870Brea-92821Garden Grove- 92840,92844,92843Santa Ana-92703,92701,92704Buena Park-90621Costa Mesa-92627Irvine-92604Fullerton-92832Long Beach-90810,90806Tustin-92781Los Angeles-90013Orange-92703Aliso Viejo-92656San Juan Capistrano-92675Rancho Santa Margarita- 92688 Huntington Beach- 92708, 92647Fountain Valley- 92648, Vista-92081-San Clemente- Laguna Beach-Yorba Linda-Cypress-San Bernardino-El Monte-Signal Hill- Mission Viejo

Caterina's Club has been a success story for myself and my late Mamma. She inspired me to help those in my community, and I have continued to do so ever since. It brings me immense joy to know that we are bringing smiles to children and parents in need through this organization. It has been an honor to help each individual, and I only hope to inspire others to do the same. 

Caterina's Club is dear to my heart because my grandmother, Caterina, inspires it. When this organization began in 2005, I wanted nothing more than to be a part of her legacy. After her passing, Bruno and I dedicated all of our efforts to ensure her legacy would continue. Building a nonprofit has had its struggles, but I am so thankful for our incredible donors and supporters who allow us to continue the good work.