BASEBALL, BBQ & JAPAN RELIEF

By Sheryll Alexander

Want to help Japan and eat some good barbecue too? Head on over to any one of six Beach Pit BBQ locations on Mar. 28 and half of all sales will be donated to locally-operated charities in Japan to aid earthquake and tsunami survivors in Sendai, Japan. Plus, Saddleback Church’s PEACE Relief Mission Program has agreed to match Beach Pit BBQ’s contribution up to $30,000.

Inspired by his daughters Delaney, Riley and Paige, who set up a bake sale last year for Haiti relief, DeCinces held a similar sales and matching fundraiser at three Beach Pit locations. He and his guests, along with matching funds from the mission program, raised more than $38,000, which was used to build a water filtration system at a Haitian village devastated by the earthquake and hurricanes.

DeCinces says Japan is close to his heart as he lived there for a time as a youth while his professional baseball player father played for Japan’s Yakult Swallows. So, DeCinces is working closely with Sendai-based professional baseball team, the Rakuten Eagles, to give the money raised directly to the Sendai community to aid in relief efforts.

Beach Pit BBQ Locations

Costa Mesa, 1676 Tustin Ave., Costa Mesa., 949-645-7427

Old Town Tustin, 560 El Camino Real, Tustin, 714-929-7427

Old Towne Orange, 128 N. Glassell St., Orange, 714-633-7427

Downtown Huntington Beach, 301 Main St., Huntington Beach, 714 374-3033.

Laguna Niguel, 32371 Golden Lantern, Laguna Niguel, 949-496-7427.

Aliso Viejo, 926541 Aliso Creek Rd., Aliso Viejo, 949-362-7427.

Sheryll Alexander is a lifestyles editor and writer based in Costa Mesa, California.