I’m lucky, let me start there. Wanna know why? Because aside from working with a Real Estate Company that is embracing Social Networking, I have the opportunity to meet and interview people in our communities that inspire those around them.

One such person is Tim DeCinces of Beach Pit BBQ who donated ALL PROCEEDS FROM THE SALES OF ONE NIGHT OF HIS THREE RESTAURANTS TO HAITI!

Why am I so excited to introduce you to him? Well, for one thing upon meeting him you know there is something special going on his life. We had been playing phone tag for a little while, and yet every time we didn’t connect, he would leave me a voicemail informing me when he would be available, and that between certain times he would be busy with his family….I liked that! A family man!

When we finally did connect, he was just finishing up a Valentine’s Day pancake breakfast at his kindergarten daughters school!

He was also in the middle of a big move changing offices from Costa Mesa to Irvine. With boxes everywhere, he invited me to come on down and have a chat.

I arrived as scheduled and could see that the energy in the office was one of total joy despite the chaos of boxes around them. I was greeted by Carolynn who apologized for the boxes with a large smile on her face.

I walked into Tim’s office and thanked him for making the time to meet me. Seeing that he was busy I got to work right away…

Me: How long have you been involved with BeachPitBBQ?
Tim: “We created BeachPitBBQ 5 years ago in Costa Mesa with a family atmosphere in mind. A community place and made sure to include in our business plan how were going to give back to the community….be it sponsoring or supporting Little League, Soccer Teams, Church Events…whatever it was….we felt our dollars were better served there”.

Me: Tell me about what inspired you to contribute 100% of your sales for one evening from all three restaurants, to Haiti.
Tim: “The Sunday before my daughter decided she wanted to help Haiti somehow and so she put together a bake sale to send the money to Haiti. I thought to myself, ‘What could we do at the Restaurant to help?’ We were a little concerned because the weather forecast called for rain and we have lots of outside seating, but people came from EVERYWHERE, in the pouring rain with a great attitude, excited about what Beach Pit BBQ was doing…it was great for everyone!”

Me: How much money did you raise?
Tim: “We raised 19,322.00 between the 3 restaurants and then Caroline’s Dad who is a minister at Saddleback Church reached out and they matched what we raised and sent a Mission Group to Haiti to develop a water project”.

Me: How long did it take you to put it all together?
Tim: “Natalie does our social media and started tweeting about it, posting it on Facebook and sent out one email blast and in 4 days, we got it together. It’s a difficult time for restaurants but we reached out, and vendors donated food and the staff was so excited to be a part of this, plus my daughters got to get out of school to take pictures for the news coverage of their bake sale and they thought that was pretty cool! Plus some of the people that joined us that evening booked catering events and then donated the money to Haiti, One person created a charity within a charity by booking a catering event with the money going to Haiti and the food to the Orange County Rescue Mission!”

Me: What did you do before this?
Tim: I played pro baseball. I started at UCLA, then went to the Orioles for 4 years, traded to Padres and finished up in Oakland. I loved it and I miss it. The Team, the players. I miss the camaraderie…I was also involved in Residential Development”.

I could tell that he was now working with a great team at Beach Pit BBQ and that he was thankful for the people they have working for them.

Natalie, Tim and Caroline

There is still more to come and I will keep you informed as we go along…in the mean time, if you want to book a charity event contact Natalie Venneri @ nv@beachpitBBQ.com or stop by any of their 3 locations:

1676 Tustin Ave Costa Mesa (949) 645-RIBS
560 El Camino Real, Old Town Tustin (714) 929-RIBS
128 N Glassell St, Old Town Orange