THE LOCAL
HOMETOWN HERO
Evan Darnell
Through the Red Meat Lovers Club, the founder brings people together over steaks, puns and a love for giving back Written by CHRISTIANA LILLY
—Evan Darnell
This page is a tribute to community citizens who have demonstrated exemplary service and leadership to the city of Boca Raton and is in memory of John E. Shuff.
38
A
s the Secretary of Steak of the Red Meat Lovers Club, Evan Darnell oozes puns. His 13-year-old son is the Commander in Beef, members are steaksmen, and their gatherings are “meatings” (including this interview with Boca magazine). “We’ve just scratched the pun surface,” he laughs. While attending Tulane University, Darnell saw a poster for a vegetarian group and started its counterpart, the Red Meat Lovers Club, a social club where students could meet (or, should we say, meat), drink draft beer, and enjoy burgers and steaks. The club fizzled out when he graduated, and he enjoyed a career in restaurants in New York and New Jersey. Looking for a change of pace away from hospitality, the Darnells moved to South Florida in 2017. Here, he decided to resurrect the club. It started with 14 men from his neighborhood dining at Chima in Fort Lauderdale. Within a few months, it grew to 54 men at their neighborhood clubhouse. In April 2018, the gatherings added the philanthropic element in honor of a member’s late son.“I got on the chair, and I did an auction,” Darnell remembers.“We raised $4,500 in seven minutes. The next month, we raised $52,000.” The causes that the Red Meat Lovers Club (and its offshoot, the Red Meat Kosher Club, run by Secretary of Brisket Matthew Maschler) support go across the board, including the Boys & Girls Clubs of Palm Beach County, Jordan Avi Ogman Foundation, Selfless Love Foundation, Boca Raton Police Foundation, and the George Snow Scholarship Fund. With the latter, the club partnered with Casa de Montecristo to found the Montecristo Steak Scholarship, a $10,000 scholarship for a hospitality student. When Darnell discovered that the football team at Atlantic High School was in need of new helmets, the group was able to raise enough money to purchase new helmets for each player.“Public schools are not as equally funded as others,”he says.“So when you’re dealing with schools that are in your backyard, that may not necessarily have all the opportunities your kids have, you’ve got to step up.” Darnell works to make each event unique from the typical fundraiser; on Nov. 14, an eight-time arm
Evan Darnell
wrestling world champion will be making an appearance at their get-together at The Loft at Congress in Boca Raton, benefiting the Helping Israel Fund. In January, the Ribcage Battle with MMA fighters at Delray Beach Boxing & Fitness will raise money for the Caring House Project.“We have some truly amazing sponsors,”Darnell says of the community that has formed.“I may be the face of it, but when we raise money, that $1.7 million didn’t come from me. It’s from my members and their generosity.”
BUSINESS AND CHARITY: I would say first and foremost, the Red Meat Lovers Club is a business networking club. The way that we network is through eating and philanthropy. The natural byproduct of being in a room full of people that are like yourself, whatever that may be, [is] you’re going to want to do business with people you like. We’ve had incredible success stories come out of the club. DOING THINGS DIFFERENTLY: I don’t like putting on a sport coat and having some not-so-great country club food. That doesn’t sound like a great evening to me. But if you throw in incredible food, and off-the-menu experiences when we do restaurants, then I want to be there with or without the charity. The charity is an added plus. CHARITABLE BOCA: I don’t think the Red Meat
Lovers Club could have even started at any other place. It needed a base of good people. Palm Beach County is an incredibly generous place. I think there’s a reason why there’s so many nonprofits based out here.
SHOT AT OKEECHOBEE STEAK HOUSE BY AARON BRISTOL
I just like feeding people. I think that’s the Jewish grandma in me.”
bocamag.com • • • • November/December 2024
LOCAL HH DARNELL ND24.indd 38
10/4/24 1:58 PM