Tinley Park Kids' Curbside Café Back To Help Local Charities

TINLEY PARK, IL — A group of friends is back in biz with a pop-in coffee stand to raise money for charity.

The Tinley Park kids apparently just can't wait to become businessmen and women, and they're getting started early. Up and running again is Hanover Kids' Café, right in the driveway of one family's home.

Hot coffee, cold drinks, some baked goods, it's all there — who needs Starbucks? The cafe is open Tuesdays and Thursdays through August 22, from 7 to 8:30 a.m. You can find their shop set up at Hanover Drive and Milford Avenue in Tinley Park. The kids keep any hard-earned tips, but the rest goes to charity.

The menu goes beyond your basic brews, with lattes (hot and iced), flavored lemonades and iced teas, cappuccino, and so much more to choose from. The café is all the kids' creation, with handwritten and drawn menus, acquired coffee-making skills, signs for advertising, and even a commercial.

Each week's proceeds will go to a different charity, with the first week's donated to White Sox charities. The second week's proceeds will go to Leukemia Research Foundation. The third week's recipient will be an area family that has yet to be confirmed, said Ashleigh Gingras, whose children help run the operation.

Also helping to run the show are eighth graders Atala, Allison, Mikey, and Gianluca; seventh grader Jonathan; fifth grader Joey; sixth grader Ryan; and fourth grader Christian.