by Hannah Simonetta
As a boy growing up in Mamaroneck, New York, Evan Greenberg ’26 began with a simple goal: to help keep people warm during the winter.
“I was five years old when I realized there were people who were cold,” says Greenberg, talking from his Collegetown apartment. “And I thought, ‘Why not give away hot cocoa?’ That was the initial vision, at five, and that’s where it started.”
He told his parents, and the family collectively decided to create a cocoa stand that would donate all proceeds to people in need. Enlisting the help of his three-year-old brother, they launched Evan & Joshua’s Hot Cocoa Stand, a fundraising effort that recently marked its nineteenth year. They opened in the family garage, raised $180 in their first try, and kept setting their sights higher. In the stand’s fifth year, Evan and Josh moved out of their family garage and expanded the operation to include raffle prizes from local merchants and sports memorabilia donated by the New York Giants, Jets, Knicks, Mets, Rangers, and Yankees.
In 2025, the stand raised over $7,000, bringing their grand total to $95,000 over nearly two decades. After initially donating to Oxfam and a local food pantry, by their fourth year, the brothers decided to contribute all proceeds to the Pediatric Cancer Foundation (PCF), which funds hospital research programs nationwide.
Evan Greenberg ’26 (left) and his brother Joshua at the fifth year of their hot cocoa stand
Evan Greenberg ’26 and his mother pouring hot cocoa during the first year of the fundraiser
“PCF is so proud of the work of Evan and Joshua Greenberg,” says Pamela Strauss Peligri, executive director of the Pediatric Cancer Foundation. “Their efforts have helped us touch countless families throughout the country as they deal with the terrible fight against childhood cancer.”
“Being able to give back to the community and help support such an important cause is huge for us,” says Greenberg, who has continued to operate the cocoa stand through his undergrad career at Syracuse University and his first two years at Cornell Law.
As the son and grandson of lawyers, Greenberg has wanted to practice law for as long as he can remember. At Syracuse University, to lay that groundwork, he majored in political science and minored in business and policy studies, graduating summa cum laude in 2023 with an honors thesis about political polarization, economic performance, and midterm election outcomes. He served as an assemblyman in Syracuse University’s Student Association, a student representative in its Office of Alumni Engagement, vice president of its chapter of College Democrats of New York, and the director of membership and recruitment in the Forever Orange Student Alumni Council.
He interned too, starting as a freshman in the Syracuse office of U.S. Senator Charles Schumer, where he wrote memos that highlighted pending bills and their potential impact on Central New York. That led to an internship with New York State Senator Alessandra Biaggi, where he conducted research on community issues before returning to the regional offices of Schumer and Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, where he vetted organizations applying for federal grants and staffed press conferences during the senators’ visits to Syracuse.
Following a summer legal internship at Affinity Solutions, where he worked with the chief compliance officer, Greenberg arrived at Cornell Law. “I’d done so much research before applying to Cornell Law, and I knew I’d made a well-informed decision to come here,” he says. “Whatever happened, I was sure all my career options were on the table. I could go into academia, or public service, or corporate law. I thought I’d probably end up working in a large law firm, but I was open to any opportunity that arose.”
By the end of his 1L year, Greenberg was wondering whether taking a job in big law would still be the right path. He thought about a young girl with cancer who’d visited the cocoa stand years earlier, telling the brothers how grateful she was for their help. He thought about all the telephone calls he’d fielded from constituents during his government internships. An interview with a large law firm reminded him how much work he’d already done in public service and helped him reconsider how satisfying it had been.
Then, after a 2024 judicial internship with Judge Frederic Block, LL.B. ’59, on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York—“He’s been a great role model for me,” says Greenberg—his choice grew clearer. Beginning in January, in coordination with his coursework, his work as a legal extern in the Office of the New York State Attorney General has pointed the way back toward a career in public service.
“The longer I’ve been here, the more I’ve grown as a person, and I’ve come to understand what I’m most passionate about: working for the government,” says Greenberg, who also interned with the Jewish Democratic Council of America and served as a fellow on the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. “I don’t think I’d like to run for office, but I’m super-interested in electoral strategy, and a role as a legal advisor to a senator or a congressional committee would be really exciting. I’m a lifelong New Yorker, and taking a job with the state, fighting for the people of New York, would be really compelling. It would be a dream come true.
“Helping others has always been important to me, and going into a public interest law career is coming full circle for me,” he continues. “I was amazed at the amount of money we raised in the first year of the hot cocoa stand. If I could go back to meet my five-year-old self, I think he’d be ecstatic about the impact we made in the community and where it’s leading.”
