LONG BEACH, Calif. -- Several beautiful properties in Long Beach are opening their doors to the public.
For 15 years Mari Hooper has helped give home tours for Steel Magnolias. The group picks four homes to show every year.
They started giving these tours to help keep the Stramski Center at Miller Children’s Hospital afloat. Nearly 4,000 children with autism and other developmental delays are treated there each year.
Hooper is a widow and her adult son was hit by a car on his way home from school when he was nine-years-old. He was on life support for several days. Even though he’s able to hold a job now, Hooper feels for the parents who need a place like the Stramski Center.
“When you see the outcome of some of these children who have been treated, it’s one of the most inspiring [things],” said Hooper.
The founder of Steel Magnolias, Shirley Wild, relies on Long Beach residents to open their homes each year.
“These are children that are left out. It’s not the popular cause so to speak,” said Wild.
The tour is Saturday, May 11. It will start in Belmont heights at the Gaytonia, an iconic apartment building from the 1930s.
Hooper says the home design tour has raised millions over the years for the Stramski Center.
For more information and tickets, click here.