Florida Weekly: “Cool Beans fundraiser honors one of its own”

Cool Beans Indoor Playground & Cafe, at Downtown at the Gardens in Palm Beach Gardens, will host “A Day for Evan,” in memory of manager Evan Kaufman, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. July 28.

The fundraiser, which will include arts and crafts and free face painting throughout the day, celebrates the late 21-year-old Cool Beans manager, who died in a car crash in May.

All proceeds from the Downtown at the Gardens carousel and train, as well as 50 percent of admission to the Cool Beans playground on July 28 will be donated to the Mandel JCC, a non-profit organization close to Evan’s heart.

Evan grew up at the JCC in West Palm Beach. As a teen, he worked at the JCC as a lifeguard, preschool camp counselor, and a Camp Shalom staff person.

The donation will benefit the Evan Kaufman Kavod award, created to recognize those who demonstrated the same honor and integrity of the JCC’s mission statement that Evan did. A plaque will hang in the Mandel JCC and be updated each year with the award recipients’ name.

“Evan would be proud to see how the community has rallied together on his behalf to support the JCC’s Kavod fund created in his name, and it warms my heart to see how many lives he touched in his 21 years. Helping children in the community was one of his passions; every guest at the playground could see that,” said Maxine Kaufman, Evan’s mother.

For more information about the fundraiser, call Cool Beans at 627-1782 or visit CoolBeansPlayCafe.com.