PvilleYI Provides Grief Support for Pleasantville Community
Prayer vigil held in response to the loss of our friend, Donald McCormick.
In recent weeks, the loss of a student and a beloved teacher have marked our community and school with immense grief. PvilleYI stepped in to help support the community through candlelight vigil and grief support services. We gathered in our volunteers, local pastors, counselors, and even Marion County support dogs to come together at our school to provide care.
This is not the kind of support we wish our community needed. But when it did, Pleasantville Youth Initiative stepped up to bring love and support as much as we possibly could. Thank you to Pleasantville Community School District for trusting us and partnering with us to support the students and community.
For families and teens struggling with grief, we have curated a list of helpful articles and links here.
PvilleYI Welcomes First Student Intern: Addie Koenig
STUDENT INTERN- Addie Koenig
Join us in welcoming our Trojans at Work High School Intern, Addie Koenig! Addie is a senior at Pleasantville High School and is participating in the Trojans at Work program at PHS. This program allows students, while attending high school, to gain valuable real world working experience while earning high school credit. Addie will be spending her time learning the ins and outs of running a non-profit, helping organize and plan events, and carrying out other duties as assigned (aka, getting Emily coffee ).
Look for Addie’s contributions this Fall in our events and more!
PvilleYI Provides Hospitality At Community Worship Night
On August 20th, PvilleYI provided hospitality at a Community Worship Night organized by our dear friend and volunteer, Olivia Anthony. Liv had a vision to bring the community together for a night of prayer and song. We helped her organize and promote her event, and we were honored to offer hospitality as well.
It was a BEAUTIFUL time of worship! Thank you to Olivia Anthony for organizing this event and sharing your gift. A special thanks to Matt Van Sant, Mike and Ben Fust, Gabriel Claussen, Jeremy Cole, Nicolas and Danielle Lirio, Caleb Van Sant, and Kodis Rawlings for their musical and technical talents as well. Thanks to Brenda Goodale and Troy "Boova" for sharing their hearts and prayers. And a huge thank you to our PvilleYI volunteers for providing hospitality and serving those in attendance. PLUS a big THANKS to the Webb Shadle Public Library for use of the property and their incredible smart screen!
Photos were taken by Jennie Koenig and Lane Clark
Summer Meals 2025 Concludes
Teen and kid volunteers stand with Mr. Jim Breese, our KFYI delivery man and dear friend!
In Summer 2025, PvilleYI distributed meals once again with the help of Knoxville Youth Food Initiative and St. Paul’s United Methodist Church. We served thousands of meals (official number coming soon) and met the needs of kids and teens in our community. We are so grateful for our volunteers and our partners. And we are also happy that families feel so welcome to come and participate in the program!
Carol, Linda, and Barb show off a floral arrangement thank you gift from PvilleYI. We love our ladies!
July 4th 2025 Parade
We loved participating once again in our 2025 4th of July parade! Thanks to all our team for joining us on the float. We just love throwing out candy and little toys to the kids in the community!
Phase 2 Of Building Project Begins
As June 2025 began, so did phase 2 of our Building Project. This portion of the project begins with framing, which will last for several weeks as our experienced volunteers work on the project.
Our volunteers have spent hours contributing their strength and talents to help make this part of the project a success.
Keep up to date with our project progress here.
Summer MEal Program 2025 Begins
Beginning on June 2, 2025: we began to distribute meals to teens and kids in Pleasatnville. We are able to do this thanks to our partnership with Knoxville Food Youth Initiative (KFYI) and St. Paul’s United Methodist Church. KFYI provides the food and runs the program. St. Paul’s UMC gives us a location to distribute those meals from, as well as volunteering to help distribute. Our PvilleYI volunteer team helps unload, fill bags, tie them, and distribute the meals every Monday Wednesday and Friday. Each bag contains 2 (M,W) or 3 (F) days worth of breakfast and lunch.
Our first week of meal distribution brought us a lot of joy. Not only did we get to see so many smiling faces, but we got to enjoy the St. Paul’s UMC tulip tree which was in full bloom!
We will continue to serve meals every MWF until August 1st.
For more information about the program, you can go here.
This work is made possible by our partnership with Knoxville Food Youth Initiative and St. Paul’s United Methodist Church.
Building Project: Phase 1 Complete
PHASE 1 COMPLETE
Phase one of our building project began on April 4, 2025 and was completed on May 31, 2025. This process involved demolition and foundation.
Phase 1 Progress:
4-28-25: Demolition Begins
5-1-25: Demolition is complete.
5-7-25: Foundation Prep Work
5-8-25: Foundation Work Begins
5-12-25: Foundation Footings
5-13-25: Foundation Walls
5-14-25: Continued Foundation Work
5-16-25: Groundwork
5-21-25: Groundwork
5-23-25: Backfill and Groundwork
5-31-25: Pour Concrete Floor
May Baskets For The Elementary School 2025
On April 30th, 2025, PvilleYI put together 500 May Baskets to take to our elementary school. This year our volunteers were the Pleasantville Youth Group! This group meets on Wednesdays during the school year at the Webb Shadle Library. The teens helped us turn 500 cups into baskets and fill them with treats! We then took them over to the school and left a basket on every desk.
This is one of our favorite things to do to bless the younger kids in our community. Thanks to the Pleasantville Youth Group for your help this year!
PROM PREP MORNING 2025
On Saturday, April 26th 2025 PvilleYI hosted our Prom Prep morning. Girls attending Pleasantville’s prom were invited to come in to get their hair and makeup done by one of our talented volunteers or to use supplies provided to do their own. They were welcomed by our team who offered them delicious light snacks and crumbl cookies, ice coffee, and punch. Girls were welcome to stay and enjoy themselves for as long as they liked!
As they left, each girl was given a goody back full of prom day essentials like a compact mirror, lint roller, lip gloss, fun trendy sunglasses, tissues, blister cushions and bandaids, nail files, and more.
As always, our prom prep morning was FREE for all girls!
PHASE ONE OF BUILDING PROJECT SET TO BEGIN APRIL 28, 2025
EXCITING NEWS! Phase 1 of Construction on our Building Project is SCHEDULED TO BEGIN on April 28th! This Phase will start with Demo, which will take approximately one week. The rest of Phase 1 will begin when Demo is complete.
A NOTE FOR COMMUNITY MEMBERS: A portion of Jefferson St. will be closed for approximately three months while construction is in progress. Please avoid the areas that are closed off and stay away from the building site during this time. (map below).
To learn more about this building project, go here.
This has been a long process of fundraising and hard work. We are so excited to FINALLY begin building a place to serve our community in so many more ways!
PvilleYI Christmas Dinner
In December 2024 PvilleYI hosted a Christmas Dinner Party for middle school and high school students. Over 80 teens attended the event! We served a Chick-Fil-A meal to each teen, coming to serve them directly at their tables. Dessert and drinks were also served by PvilleYI volunteers. We also passed out a gift to every teen, full of all kinds of fun and trendy items to celebrate them!
A huge thank you goes to our friends at Pleasantville’s St. Paul United Methodist Church for allowing us to use their Family Life Center to host the event.
summer 2024: 27,056 Meals Distributed in Pleasantville
In the summer of 2024, PvilleYI partnered with Knoxville Food Youth Initiative and St. Paul’s United Methodist Church to serve the teens in our community with meals. Each Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from June 3rd to August 2nd, our volunteers worked together to serve an average of 200 bags per day. Each bag contained 4 to 6 meals for each child and teen.
In total, we distributed 5,794 bags.
This means that we distributed 27,056 meals to children and teens in Pleasantville!
We believe the success of the program in Pleasantville is in part due to our efforts to reduce the stigma associated with participating in a food distribution program. Our volunteers go above and beyond to greet children and make sure they feel seen and worthwhile, even if it’s only a brief interaction. We take time to welcome families with a warm smile and a kind greeting.
We are so grateful that we were able to work with KFYI and St. Paul’s UMC to provide this much needed service to our community!
Trick or treat on the square 2024
It’s always a fun night trick or treating in Pleasantville! We again hosted our Trick or Treat on the Square event on Halloween. This event brings community businesses and organizations together to give the kids a night to remember.
Post Game Party 2024
It was a chilly night in Pleasantville for our 2024 Post Game Party! Luckily our volunteers were ready with music, snacks, and several photo opportunities for teens to enjoy together! We love providing a fun and safe space for teens to spend time with each other.
Over 100 teens grades 7-12 attended this year’s event!
Homecoming 2024
One of our favorite weeks of the year: HOMECOMING! We were so excited to participate again in our small town parade and cheer on the Trojans throughout the week!
Middle School Dance Night 2024
We had a BLAST at our Middle School Dance Night 2024!
Over 100 students attended the dance!
Elevate conference
Some of our team was able to attend the Elevate Conference in Minneapolis thanks to our ministry partners at TreeHouse! Thanks to the generous anonymous donors who paid for our hotel accommodations! We learned about trauma informed youth ministry and much more.
Middle School Back to School Night
On August 22nd, 2024, PvilleYI partnered with Pleasantville Middle School to host a welcome back to school event during their back to school night.
We provided refreshments, resources, and gifts for incoming 7th and 8th graders.
Resources included tips on parenting middle schoolers, information on developmental stages, information about local organizations and opportunities, and more.
We also brought in a display of our recommended products for students of this age, based on feedback from families and our own experiences raising teens! (We get no incentive to do this)
Each student received a welcome back from us full of fun items we know middle schoolers love!
We had a great time partnering with the school and welcoming students back to a new year, and we were honored to help ease parents into a new chapter of parenthood as well.
PvilleYI hosts poverty conference in pleasantville
June 5, 2024:
In June 2023, PvilleYI Co-Founders Jennie Koenig and Emily Caulkins attended a Marion County Poverty Conference hosted by The Well, an organization in Marion County that serves those in need. The conference provided PvilleYI with a unique perspective that helped as we served our community members in Pleasantville.
Pleasantville's poverty level is 5% over the state level. In the last 20 years Pleasantville's poverty rate has more than doubled from 7% to 16%. And as of 2020, 25% of those under the poverty level were 6 years of age or younger.
With these statistics in mind, we worked with The Well to bring a Poverty Conference to Pleasantville. We invited leaders from our school, city, churches, and organizations to attend.
On June 5th 2024, our team hosted the Marion County Poverty Conference at Pleasantville’s High School Library. The conference was well-attended with representatives from nearly every church, organization, and leadership team in our community.
Jayson Henry, Well CEO, led the conference. PvilleYI provided a lunch for participants catered by Halftime Bar and Grill.
This conference is part of our effort to make Pleasantville a compassionate and welcoming community for people of all demographics. Thank you to everyone who attended and all those who helped make this possible!
Resources that were passed out at the event were:
A Framework for Understanding Poverty by Ruby K. Payne, Ph.D
