Everett's Place Play Café

07/08/2026

This is an amazing community initiative by Charleston Discount Grocery & their partners!!
If you’re able to give a single item, you’re making a difference! ♥️🙌🏻

🚛📚 CAN CHARLESTON FILL THE TRAILER? ❤️

We have a challenge for our community...

When we announced our August Back-to-School Bash, we were overwhelmed by all of the excitement, encouragement, and ideas from everyone. One conversation, in particular, helped turn a good idea into what we believe could become something really special.

We're excited to announce that Charleston Discount Grocery is partnering with Food 4 Kids for our August After Hours Shopping Event!

Together, we're launching what we hope becomes a new Charleston tradition...

🚛 FIRST ANNUAL
FILL THE TRAILER FOR FOOD 4 KIDS
2026 COMMUNITY CHALLENGE

Our goal is simple...

By the end of our Back-to-School Bash on Wednesday, August 5, we want to fill an entire trailer with donations to help local students and families start the school year strong.

Whether you donate one notebook, one backpack, one box of macaroni & cheese, or a whole shopping cart full, every donation matters. Every donation helps. Every donation stays right here in our community.

Instead of collecting only school supplies, we're inviting everyone to help us fill the trailer with both school supplies and kid-friendly, non-perishable food items.

🎒 School Supplies

• Backpacks
• Notebooks
• Pencils & Pens
• Crayons & Markers
• Glue Sticks
• Folders
• Scissors
• Highlighters
• Other classroom essentials

🥫 Kid-Friendly Food

• Peanut Butter
• Jelly
• Mac & Cheese
• Cereal
• Granola Bars
• Fruit Cups
• Applesauce
• Instant Oatmeal
• Ramen
• Shelf-Stable Milk
• Individual Snack Packs
• Canned Pasta
• Other kid-friendly pantry items

📦 YOU CAN START DONATING TODAY!

You don't have to wait until August 5.

We'll gladly accept donations during our regular business hours at:

📍 Charleston Discount Grocery
1500 Madison Ave.
Charleston, IL

We'll safely store everything in the back until event week.

Then, the week of the event, Food 4 Kids will bring in the trailer, we'll begin loading everything that's already been donated, and together we'll see if Charleston can completely fill the trailer before the end of the event!

🎉 BACK-TO-SCHOOL BASH
Wednesday, August 5

🕔 5:00 PM – 8:00 PM

Join us for an evening of:

🛍️ Shopping Local
🍔 Great Food
🛒 After-Hours Shopping
🎁 Giveaways
🎶 Live Music (We're still looking for a local musician or small band!)
🎉 Family Fun
🚛 Fill the Trailer Challenge

📣 VENDORS & MUSICIANS WANTED!

We're still looking for:

🛍️ Local Businesses
🎨 Crafters & Artisans
🚜 Farmers
❤️ Nonprofit Organizations
🍴 Food Trucks
🎶 Musicians & Small Bands

If you'd like to participate, send us a Facebook message or email:

📧 [email protected]

This event is about so much more than shopping.

It's about neighbors helping neighbors.

It's about making sure local students have the supplies they need to succeed.

It's about helping local families keep food on the table.

It's about supporting an incredible local organization that serves children in our community.

Most importantly...

It's about showing what can happen when a community comes together for something bigger than ourselves.

Charleston has always been a community that steps up when people are in need.

Let's prove it again.

Let's fill this trailer.

Let's support Food 4 Kids.

Let's help local students start the school year with confidence.

❤️ We can't wait to see what our community can accomplish together.

FAITH. FAMILY. CHARLESTON.

06/28/2026

🚨We're so excited to introduce the Coles County Caregiver Collective 🤝

One of the biggest dreams behind Everett's Place has always been to create more than a play café... we want to build a village!
If you're a parent or caregiver of a child with medical complexity, a disability, developmental differences, a rare disease, chronic illness, or any other special healthcare needs, we'd love to welcome you into this new community!

This group is a place to:
🤍 Find encouragement
🤍 Connect with other local caregivers
🤍 Share resources and recommendations
🤍 Celebrate victories - big and small
🤍 Remember that no one has to walk this journey alone

✨ We also have an exciting announcement coming soon. 👀We're partnering with The Play Social in Effingham, IL for a special caregiver and family event, and we can't wait to share the details! If you haven't already, be sure to give their page a follow! They've been incredibly generous in supporting our mission, and we're so excited to see their wonderful success since opening this month!🥹🫶🏻

By clicking the group link in the title, join the Coles County Caregiver Collective today! Invite another caregiver who could use a village, and help us grow a community where every family feels seen, supported, and understood. 💙

06/11/2026

As a special needs mom (Annie) & sister (Glory), we don't just know these statistics. We live them.
And while these numbers are especially true for caregivers of medically complex children, the reality is that parenting itself can be incredibly isolating. 𝗪𝗲 𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗱 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗺𝘂𝗻𝗶𝘁𝘆. We all need encouragement. We all need people who understand.
That's why Everett's Place is being molded into more than an indoor playground.
Yes, children will come here to play, imagine, learn, and explore...
𝗕𝘂𝘁 𝘄𝗲'𝗿𝗲 𝗯𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘀𝗼𝗺𝗲𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗱𝗲𝗲𝗽𝗲𝗿!
A place where parents can take a deep breath.
A place where caregivers can find support.
A place where friendships are formed and burdens are shared.
A place where someone might hand you a cup of coffee, ask how you're really doing, and remind you that you're not carrying this hard life alone.🥹
Because sometimes what a caregiver or parent needs most isn't another appointment, another therapy, or another item on the to do list...
Sometimes they just need to feel seen.

𝑻𝒉𝒂𝒕'𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒕 𝒃𝒆𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒅 𝑬𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒕𝒕'𝒔 𝑷𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒆.

Our namesake, Everett, has faced some incredibly difficult medical challenges this year. As his parents navigate complex decisions about his care and future, their passion for building this nonprofit has only grown stronger! 💪🏼
Through every hospital stay, appointment, and uncertainty, we've become even more convinced that families and caregivers in our community deserve to be seen, supported, and cared for.
That's why we're being intentional about every connection we build, every program we create, and every activity we offer. Because the families in our community matter.

𝘚𝘵𝘢𝘺 𝘵𝘶𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘶𝘱𝘥𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘴!

05/01/2026

Community Question of the week!

✍️What’s the best compliment you’ve ever been given as a parent? 🥹🫶🏻

📢 Tag a parent, and give them a compliment they deserve!♥️

04/27/2026

Thank you so much, Casey State Bank! 😍🦓

Today's 30 Days of Giving recipient is Everett's Place Play Cafe.

Everett’s Place Play Café is a full-service café & indoor children’s play center, offering specialty beverages and interactive play for kids ages 10 and under. Everett’s Place Play Café is a place where children can play freely in an environment designed with their health and safety at the forefront. Where every precaution of health is taken seriously and never overlooked. Where connections are made, friendships are formed, and no one feels alone in their journey.

Stay tuned as we continue giving all month long! ❤️

Pictured from left to right: Glory Deremiah, Co-Founder, Briana Phipps, CSB CSR, and Annie Banton, Co-Founder.

04/19/2026

This part of Everett’s Place Play Cafe is EXTRA special to us! 🤍
Every program you see here has come from real, first-hand experience as a medical mom. The hospital stays, the constant adjusting, the little things that end up meaning so much… I’ve found myself thinking over and over, “this would help so many families.”

So instead of just wishing for it, we’re building it! 💪🏼

These aren’t just ideas, they’re things I’ve needed, things I’ve seen others need, and things we are so excited to offer not only to our local community, but to any family willing to travel to us.

A place to feel supported
A place to feel understood
A place where joy and real life can exist together

We cannot wait to see this vision come to life and serve families in this way. 🥹
Comment below which one of these programs you're excited to support or utilize!⬇️