Annual Tasting Event and Silent Auction: Cocoplum Branching Upward

On April 26, 2025, join Cocoplum Nature School as we raise funds to support the school's expansion through 5th Grade. The Tasting Event and Silent Auction, our biggest fundraiser of the year, is an incredible night of good food, drink, and dancing. Think of it as a supremely fun cocktail party where you get to support our area's only nature-based elementary school while also winning amazing auction prizes, bottles of wine, gift cards, and maybe even cash!

Click "Tickets/Sponsor" to reserve your seats or a whole table for family and friends. Then, on April 19, keep an eye on your email for the online auction to go live. That's right - bidding starts a week before the event so you can get a head start on your favorite packages!

Are you a small business owner? Looking for ways to grow your reach and network? Event sponsorships are still available and can be purchased through the "Tickets/Sponsor" button or by emailing Executive Director Melanie Stefanovic at melanie@cocoplumnatureschool.org.

We can't wait to see you there!

Cocoplum Nature School's Impact

In 2020, four-year-old Brady joined Cocoplum Nature School’s first cohort at Lake Ida East Park in Delray Beach. His parents knew traditional schooling wasn't right for him—or for them. Brady loved playing barefoot outdoors, could entertain himself for hours with his imagination, and insisted on wearing pajamas every day. As busy entrepreneurs, his parents felt uncertain about homeschooling or unschooling. Then, as if by fate, Cocoplum Nature School blossomed. “All my dreams came true,” Brady’s mom reflects. Now a 3rd grader, Brady’s Cocoplum experience has been nothing short of joyful and inspired. Like his classmates, he has flourished in mind, body, and spirit—thriving in math and reading, observing lizards and frogs with wonder, and leading school-wide games of freeze tag. Ask him about his favorite part of school, and he’ll tell you, “All of it.”

In 2023 alone, Cocoplum provided a safe, nurturing, nature-based environment for over 150 children. As the only nature school of its kind in the region, families are attracted to Cocoplum's camps, after school programs, early childhood classes, and K-3 from Palm Beach Gardens to Wellington to Broward County.

To meet the growing demand, we’re expanding from our current 12,000-square-foot campus to a new expansive space where Cocoplum will thrive and serve for years to come. This larger campus will allow us to increase our enrollment and program offerings by 300%, tripling our impact in the community.

We have set an ambitious goal to raise $50,000 by June 2025 to expand from a K-3 to a K-5, thereby ensuring continuity throughout the elementary school years. This is part of a larger aim to eventually secure $4 million for a dedicated facility that will give us full autonomy in our educational approach. But we can't do it alone.

Help us grow so we can ensure children and families of Palm Beach County have access to nature-based, child-centric schooling now and in the future. Join us in nurturing the next generation of curious, compassionate, and confident children at Cocoplum Nature School.

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