OC Humanitarian to Receive Italy's Prize Montale during Ceremony at Ancient Castle April 23

    ANAHEIM, CA, March 21, 2015 /24-7PressRelease/ -- On the heels of serving his 1 millionth meal to underprivileged "motel kids," restaurateur/humanitarian Sir Bruno Serato will be awarded the Montale Prize at a formal ceremony to be held on April 23 in the Hall of Trusses Firmafede Fortress, which was built in the 15th century by Lorenzo de 'Medici. During his stay at the ancient castle in the Ligurian town of Sarzana, Serato will be feted by Italy's high society and presented with a painting by Maestro Piero Colombani and a crystal cube commemorating his 10-year history of feeding and finding housing for local families in need. The annual award is named after Eugenio Montale, an Italian poet and recipient of the 1975 Nobel Prize in Literature, who is widely considered the greatest Italian lyric poet since Giacomo Leopardi.

Serato has been recognized countless times for feeding and finding permanent housing for OC's "motel children," so named as their working parents cannot afford their own apartment so they are forced to live in cheap motels infested with prostitution, drug use and other unsavory activities. He founded the nonprofit Caterina's Club to make sure the region's most vulnerable population - its children -- receive a hot meal before they are tucked into bed. Each night for the past decade, pasta prepared at the Anaheim White House is served to the children. Currently he feeds 5,000 each week at 19 locations in 7 OC cities. In addition to the nightly meals, Serato places some of these families into homes of their own.

Serato's extreme generosity (at one point he mortgaged his own home in order to keep the program afloat) has earned him worldwide status. He was named one of CNN's 10 Heroes of the Year and has been featured in magazines (People, Elle, Vogue), television ("CBS Evening News," "EXTRA,") and newspapers (New York Times, Los Angeles Times, OC Register) countless times. He was knighted by the Italian government, honored on the steps of the U.S. Capitol with a humanitarian award, recognized by the Good News Foundation and received any number of proclamations, Man of the Year awards and other forms of recognition. For more information visit http://www.CaterinasClub.org.

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