10 LIC’s Coffeed teams with autistic baker for cookie sale
QUEENS WEEKLY, MARCH 31, 2019
BY BILL PARRY
Coffeed, the Long Island
City-based philanthropic
artisanal coffee company,
is teaming with Julia
Maidman, a 20-year-old
with autism and a passion
for baking, to produce and
sell thousands of cookies to
bring hope to families and
people of all ages who are
living with autism.
The team at Coffeed
along with Julia’s Kitchen,
which Maidman runs, will
bake chocolate chip and
oatmeal cookies. The sweet
treats are on sale now
through the end of April,
which is Autism Awareness
Month, online at Julias-
Cookies.org and at Coffeed
locations across the city.
“Julia, our master baker,
is delighted to share
her delicious cookies, the
result of great devotion,
hard work and the desire to
bake us happy,” Maidman’s
mother Arlene said. “This
has been her passion since
she took her first cooking
class three years ago.”
Proceeds from the cookie
sales will benefit Next
for Autism, a nonprofit that
creates and supports innovative
programs for individuals
with autism and
their families nationally;
and Coffeed’s longtime community
partner Community
Mainstreaming, a Long
Island-based nonprofit that
helps people with intellectual
and developmental
disabilities lead meaningful,
productive lives within
their communities through
individualized and person
centered supports for home
and work.
“Julia has shown that
it’s possible for young
adults with autism to learn
skills that could lead to
purposeful work,” Next
for Autism President Ilene
Lainer said. “Young adults
with autism face significant
hurdles to employment.
They lack training
and the proper supports
to help them thrive. That’s
the reason Next for Autism
is intently focused on creating
programs that empower
young adults with choices
and opportunities to fulfill
their potential and become
participating members of
our community.”
Frank “Turtle” Raffaele
and a group of friends
started Coffeed in 2012 as a
for-profit with a charitable
component with 5 to 10 percent
of its gross revenue
going to charities such as
the Refugee and Immigrant
Fund based in Astoria, the
New York Foundling, and
City Growers. In addition
to supporting the charitable
organizations, Coffeed
staffs its locations with the
people they serve.
“We are committed to
hiring people in the community
with disabilities,”
Raffaele said.
Each Sunday for the
past six months, Coffeed cofounder
Abe King picks up
Maidman and other young
cooks from their home and
brings them to the company’s
industrial kitchen
in Long Island City, where
they produce the cookies.
“Owners and managers
need to realize they are in
a meaningful position that
can make a difference in
the lives of this group and
at the same time bring tremendous
benefits to themselves
and their business,”
King said. “People with
disabilities have tremendous
untapped abilities.
We all have, or will have,
disabilities at some point
in our lives and the humanity
we show others is
what counts.”
Reach reporter Bill Parry
by e-mail at bparry@schnepsmedia.
com or by phone
at (718) 260–4538.
Julia Maidman and Coffeed are raising money for autism charities with cookie sales until the
end of April. Courtesy of Next for Autism
For four generations, New York’s Jewish
Community has turned to Sinai Chapels for
guidance and comfort in their time of need.
We honor and respect all Jewish traditions
and customs, attending to every funeral detail
according to each family’s personal and
religious preferences.
To learn more, contact us today:
718.445.0300 | 800.446.0406
link
link
link
/Cookies.org
