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

Toxic Charity by Robert D. Lupton

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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.



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Community Partnerships, Events, News, Community Jennie Koenig Community Partnerships, Events, News, Community Jennie Koenig

Trick or Treat on the Square 2023

We had a GREAT night at our Trick or Treat on the Square 2023! It was a COLD night, but we had a record turnout none the less. This could be in part to the Chick-fil-a food truck! They joined us for the night and families had a great time trick-or-treating and grabbing a bite to eat as well. In fact, Chick-Fil-A had to send for MORE food. How about that!

Thanks to the organizations and businesses who came out to give the kiddos treats!

American Legion Women’s Auxiliary

Bill Harvey Construction

Boy Scouts

Brandi Booth

Checkerboard

Christ Family Church

City of Pleasantville

Crush Nutrition

D&D Auto Body

Dollar General

Fairview Christian Church

Friends of the Library

Marion County Express

Masons

Peoples Bank

Pleasantville Chamber of Commerce

Pleasantville Christian Church

Smokey Row

St. Paul’s United Methodist Church

Unleashed Pet Boarding

Za-Ga-Zig Shriners

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FCA Worship Night

We were so excited to help at the FCA (Fellowship of Christian Athletes) worship night at Pleasantville Christian Church. We were able to bring cookies donated by Subway as well as drinks to offer as refreshments following the service.

Originally the event was intended to be an outdoor service behind the library. When heavy rain threatened to cancel the event, Pleasantville Christian Church stepped up to open their doors to the teens who had organized the event.

It was a beautiful night of worship!

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