Corona Del Mar : Restaurant Pitches In to Help Needy Family

Five family members who had been living in one cramped motel room will soon be in their own apartment, thanks to the owners and employees of the Bella Teresa restaurant.

Owners Michael and Teresa Jordan donated the restaurant’s entire proceeds Tuesday evening to pay first and last month’s rent for the struggling family of two working parents and three teen-age children.

With the restaurant’s help, the family will be able to move into a modest Costa Mesa apartment near where the parents and eldest child work.

Restaurant staff also donated their tips to stock the apartment’s refrigerator.

“It worked out really well,” said Michael Jordan, who doubles as the restaurant’s chef, cooking with the family’s southern Italian recipes. “God willing, we hope to try to do something like this once a year.”

The Jordans came across the family through Friends in Service to Humanity. With the holidays approaching, they decided to do what they could to help the family.

The Jordans ended up finding donated furniture and even a Christmas tree to help the family be comfortable in their new apartment.

“We sold our house and went after our dream in opening this restaurant,” Michael Jordan said. “People said it would never work out. It has so far, and with helping this family on Tuesday, even if we had to close (the restaurant) tomorrow, we would consider it a success.”