On November 4th Xcel Realty Xceeded Expectations along with California Pizza Kitchen’s (Pizza with a Purpose) fundraising efforts to raise over $1,000 for the non profit organization Houston Marine Moms.

Houston Marine Moms is a 501c3 non profit support group who raises money for our military who are serving over seas and locally in the United States and they also provide support for their families.

The Organization started about ten years ago with only three local Marine moms and is now up to around two hundred and fifty, according to Gina Wilson who is the secretary and membership chair on the Houston Marine Mom board.

[quote align=”center” color=”#999999″]”We’re a support group not only for our military service members who are serving overseas and locally here in the United States, but we also support their families. We’re there for those family members who have military service members overseas, socially to have meetups with them and to let them know they’re not alone and that we know what they’re going through.” – Gina Wilson[/quote]

Money raised by the organization is used to create care packages as well as caring for the members families who are missing their loved ones, said Wilson. All funds go directly to the Houston Marine Moms, which then goes directly towards the care packages put together to send to the military service members.

Each care package sent costs approximately $20 to create and send, and the organization has intentions to continue growing to have the ability to send as many care packages as possible or needed.

Houston Marine Moms was able to raise over $1,000 during the event on November 4, at California Pizza Kitchen with the help of the stellar teams at Xcel Realty, CatAtlantic Homes and California Pizza Kitchen’s combined efforts.

Xcel Realty team members Amy Lampman, Kelley Hitchens and Sarah Pirie along with Connect Realty Chairman & CEO David Boatner played a major role in orchestrating and putting together this event.

The Xcel Realty are very active in fundraising and giving back to great organizations and causes within the community on a regular basis.

Mike Miniutti of CatAtlantic Homes was also present supporting Houston Marine Moms.

[quote align=”center” color=”#999999″]“CatAtlantic Homes is a home builder that is continuing the tradition of Ryland Homes and Standard Pacific Homes. We’re now a new merged company. We are the fourth largest builder in the United States. We’ve recently launched a national program in affiliation with USAA to help support USAA members for folks that purchase our homes, we will provide them with internal financing incentives, depending on the range between $4,000 and $7,000 of additional benefits that we provide the USAA member at time of closing.” – Mike Miniutti[/quote]

Will Lawson of California Pizza Kitchen took the time to explain to us about their fundraising partnerships (Pizza with Purpose) and how they team up with local charities to raise money. These fundraisers are also one of the only ways that California Pizza Kitchen does marketing.

[quote align=”center” color=”#999999″]“This is actually the only way that we do advertising, we try to avoid any t.v. advertising and things like that, that would cost money, we’d rather put money back into our community and have the people that we support tell their friends how much they love California Pizza Kitchen and that turns into more and more guests. Everything that we do is from the ground up. We do local marketing within 5 miles from the restaurant and we reach out from there to other large organizations and things like that, all of our advertising is through word of mouth as much as possible.” – Will Lawson[/quote]

Stop by and check out California Pizza Kitchen to enjoy their delicious food and check out their terrific indoor dining experience as well as their outdoor bar and seating area that overlooks the beautiful Lake Woodlands and Hughes Landing. Tell them The Woodlands Journal sent you.

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If you’re looking to buy or sell your home get in touch with the Xcel Realty Team who is known for Xceeding Xpectations at the number or links below: