For those of you who don't know, Bill Handel and his crew were at the Anaheim White House Restaurant last Friday morning to raise money for Bruno's community service. Just for some background info, Bruno Serato, the owner, has been feeding underprivileged motel kids in OC for the past 5 years. It's about time the public becomes aware of this great cause! He humbly and willingly feeds 150 kids, 6 nights a week..amazing! He says that is costs him about $2,000 a month and even though he was asked how he can manage to afford this, he responded with "How can I afford NOT to?" The Anaheim White House is known as "OC's Hidden Treasure", but I think Bruno is one of OC's hidden heroes. I have known Bruno for the past 4 years and I am so grateful for our friendship. I first met Bruno when I was Anaheim's Outstanding Teen in 2007; Chasta (Miss Anaheim) and I were participating in a charity event at the restaurant. I would go to a lot of events throughout that year and I grew to love Bruno. Even after my Anaheim title was over, I stayed well acquainted with Bruno and his restaurant. Bruno wanted me to be his restaurant harpist for weddings and other events there and I have been doing that ever since. I have known Bruno for this long and I only found out about his charity work about a year ago! That just shows how humble he is with his service.
Bruno's service has been featured in documentaries, People magazine, and is hopefully on it's way to Oprah's show! There is even a Facebook page called "Bruno on Oprah", just so we all can request Bruno on her show. I encourage all of you reading this to click on the link above, "Like" and then request Bruno!
In addition to the publicity listed above, the Bill Handel Show promoted Bruno's service as well. The Handel show set up their radio equipment in the West Wing of the restaurant and did their broadcast live! This was a fundraiser as well as a pasta drive. Since pasta is what Bruno serves the kids, Handel was asking people to come and donate some dry pasta and even some sauces. They were also asking for donations, even donations to match Bill Handel's of $5,000! Several people ended up matching Handel's donation! The Bill Handel Show raised over $72,000 that morning, and they're accepting more!
I had a great experience at this event. I decided to go so I could donate some pasta and support my good friend Bruno and his restaurant. I also listen to the show EVERY morning as I commute to CSUF, so I wanted to meet the faces of the voices I listen to! I wasn't there as Miss GG- I was just Leah. But I was able to meet Bill Handel and his crew and tell them that I was Miss GG. The set up was so nice! There was an area for dry pasta donations and for monetary donations as well.
First, I met Todd Wilson outside who is one of the co-hosts and he is SO funny. Poor guy, he's the main target for mockery...hahaha but he's always got some good comebacks. Then I walked up to the front table with the hosts and I got to meet them all.
One of my favorite guys is Rich Marotta. His laugh is hilarious and once he starts laughing at whatever Hoffman or Handel are doing, I start laughing because I love it! When I met Rich, I told him that hearing his laugh is my favorite part of the morning. :) He was glad because he said that he got a couple letters telling him that his laugh is annoying, but I told him that they are stupid...haha
Then I got to meet the brilliant and witty Bill Handel. He was so friendly (even though he may not seem that way on the air)! We talked for a bit and I got to tell him that I am Miss GG and he was excited. He wanted to know everything about me and because he was a lawyer previous to radio, I told him that my boyfriend goes to law school and he had some nice things to say...other than that he has no career chance as a lawyer...haha
I finally got to the meet the Hoffman! He is SO smart and I love listening to his show on the weekends. It was so cool to meet the faces of the voices that I listen to every morning. They are all so cool and friendly.
I stayed at the White House for about an hour and then I had to get on my way to work in Diamond Bar (I'm the harp instructor there). I wish I could have stayed the whole time, but I am glad that I got to be there for a while. Something else happened on top of all of this too. Bill Handel and his co-hosts talked about me on the air! I was in the car, almost to Diamond Bar when I heard Bill mention that Miss GG (when he actually called me Miss Gardena) was there and that she just left out the door. That was so cool! I was mentioned 3 different times on the air and I have the clip to prove it! Thanks for the compliments, guys! And Bill (or Michelle), if you're reading this, I would love to come on your show sometime! You could interview me about the Miss America Program and my platform, "Compassion for the Convalescing". That would be a blast! Just remember, I'm your only "blonde shiksa goddess of love" fan. :)
Here's the sound clip:
I am so glad that I decided to come to this event. I am amazed at the amount of community support Bruno has! It was a proud moment to hear that they raised over $72,000! I am so happy for Bruno; I know he appreciated everyone's love and support.
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