The holidays are here and they hold extra special meaning to Southern California’s neediest population. In what has become an annual tradition, LA’s #1 talk radio station, KFI-AM 640, will hold its 8th annual PastaThonbenefiting Caterina’s Club. The station will broadcast its line-up of shows live from the Christ Cathedral (13280 Chapman Ave, Garden Grove, CA) on Friday, December 7 starting with the “Bill Handel Show” at 6 a.m. and concluding after the “Tim Conway, Jr. Show” at 10 p.m.
The public is invited to stop by, meet their favorite hosts and donate dry pasta, tomato sauce and cash to support the nonprofit founded by chef/restaurateur Sir Bruno Serato. An easy way for the public to support the effort comes courtesy of Smart & Final whose 252 stores are participating throughout Southern California, Arizona, and their Nevada locations are all offering special "Feeding Caterina's Kids" bags filled with pasta, sauce, forks, napkins, and bowls for $10 each. The chain will deliver the bags to the Caterina’s Club. This year’s goal is to generate $500,000 and 100,000 pounds of pasta and sauce.
The nonprofit Caterina’s Club feeds underprivileged children nightly, helps find permanent housing for families in need and introduces at-risk youth to careers in hospitality. The following are the latest stats reflecting the impact that Caterina’s Club has had on the community:
· Total number of meals served: 2,868,368
· Number of meals served nightly: 4,319
· Number of cities served: 27
· Number of locations: 80
· Total number of motel families placed in permanent housing: 189
· Number of graduates of the Hospitality Academy: 132
“I’m so grateful to Bill and the entire team at KFI-AM 640 for supporting Caterina’s Club,” said Serato, who founded the nonprofit named after his mother. “This has become our top fundraiser of the year and we are grateful that KFI-AM 640 for creating the PastaThon, which is crucial to keeping our program going.”
For his humanitarian work, Serato has earned international publicity including profiles in People Magazine, “CBS Evening News” and newspapers and magazines the world over. Among his many honors is being named a CNN Hero, being knighted by the Italian government, receiving a papal blessing from Pope Francis, getting a humanitarian award on the steps of the U.S. Capitol, and receiving numerous proclamations, Man of the Year awards and other forms of recognition -- all of which he accepts to generate public awareness of the needs of our most vulnerable population – our children. For more information, visit www.caterinasclub.org