PvilleYI Christmas Dinner 2025
On December 10th, 2025, PvilleYI hosted our annual Very Merry Chick-Fil-A Christmas Dinner. Over 90 middle and high school students attended!
Upon arrival, teens were welcomed and seated. During the dinner, they are invited to sit and enjoy each other’s company while our volunteers show them hospitality.
Tables were decorated with a gingerbread house theme. These small touches are important to us, because they show teens that they matter enough to us that we make the effort to make them feel loved at our tables!
As the Christmas music played, teens spent time talking and laughing with one another while sipping Christmas punch. After a prayer, volunteers began to serve teens their delicious Chick-Fil-A catered meal. Plates were piled high with the iconic Chick-Fil-A nuggets, Mac and Cheese, and mixed fruit.
As they finished, volunteers bussed tables and began passing out glasses for a Christmas toast. Teens were instructed to wait until the toast was said to enjoy their glasses of sparkling grape juice. Jennie gave a Christmas blessing, everyone yelled, “CHEERS!”, and enjoyed sweet sips! This was followed by a Christmas Tree Cake for dessert!
Following dessert, volunteers passed out a cute gingerbread house gift box to each teen. They all waited patiently, and when Mike said, “GO!”, they opened their gifts. The room was filled with giggles, right out laughter, joy, and excitement as teens pulled out the small novelty items from their boxes, which included festive Christmas hats, silly glasses, candy, and other small trendy items from their boxes.
We ended the evening by telling the group how much we cared for them, and wished them the best Christmas they have ever had.
We want to give a huge thank you to all who have given toward our yearly budget to help make events like this happen! We also want to thank St. Paul’s United Methodist Church for allowing us to use their wonderful Family Life Center for this event!
As always, a HUGE thank you goes to our volunteers and board members who give their time to serve in such impactful ways.
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!
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!
Courtney/Cox/Calhoun Pitch Tournament Donation
PvilleYI received an incredibly generous gift in honor of some wonderful people! The Courtney/Cox/Calhoun Pitch Tournament Committee presented us with a $1000 donation toward our building project. Thank you! To see more about our building project, go here.
Prom Prep morning 2024
We had a fantastic morning spoiling Pleasantville’s prom attendee girls! All young women attending prom were invited to stop by the Memorial Hall to grab an iced coffee or juice, some delicious carbohydrates from Panera Bread, and a goody bag from us! Bags were filled with prom day essentials like lip gloss, gum, bandaids, tissues, hair clips, and more.
Girls were also invited to reserve an appointment to have their hair or makeup done for free by talented volunteers! The spots filled up fast, but we also had volunteers on hand for walk-ins.
We had a great morning encouraging these young women with some pampering and fun!
Chick-fil-a christmas dinner 2024
What a FUN NIGHT! We had so much fun serving these teens tonight! Chick-fil-a, Christmas Tree Cakes, Sparkling Cider, and PRESENTS! A room filled with JOY. Teens were welcomed into a room decorated with lovely tables and candle-lit dinner. They remained seated as our volunteers served them their meals, drinks, and desserts. Then we passed out gifts for everyone! Each box contained fun novelty items for the teens to enjoy together. One item that was included was a retro WWJD bracelet (what would Jesus do).
Our goal for this event was to allow the teens to be served by us with no expectations from them whatsoever. We spent time talking with teens at each table and were able to encourage them. There was a lot of laughing, and a lot of fun!
Thanks to Marcy Pettyjohn for donating all the little paper ”crackers”, and to St. Paul’s UMC for the use of your Family Life Center!
Middle School Dance Night 2023
Well, that was FUN! Over 100 Middle School students attended our 2023 dance night! We had so much fun! Of course this event was free with snacks and drinks, as well as MUSIC!
Girls Prom Prep and Brunch
On Saturday, April 22nd, PvilleYI hosted a free girls prom prep day and brunch. We had five volunteers ready to do hair and makeup for girls for free. These were by appointment, and our volunteers were busy the whole day!
In addition, all girls attending the PHS prom were invited to drop-in for a prom day brunch. We served them a beautiful charcuterie-style spread complete with yogurt parfait, fruit, pastries, chicken salad sandwiches, meats and cheeses, and of course, Girl Scout cookies! Tables were also decorated with tulips picked from our very own gardens.
Girls were also welcomed with an ice-coffee bar and a delicious breakfast punch.
Each girl left with a gift bag containing a pura-vida bracelet, scrunchies, candy, gum, and a few items they may need in a pinch on prom day including some tissues, bandaids, makeup wipes, and lip gloss.
We absolutely loved to welcome these girls with open arms and bless them with some hospitality on their special day!
A HUGE THANK YOU goes to our hair and make-up volunteers: Holly DeGoey, Sierra Hutton, Taelor Sheets, Grace Hayes, and Chelsea Bender. Also to Brenda Goodale who donated acrylic nail sets for the girls to have! And to Tammy Clark for her help in set up, welcoming, and clean up.
Another HUGE THANK YOU goes to Ali and Mike Cranmer for donating pastries from jaarsma and Pella beef sticks/cheese curds.
Girl Scout Cookie Class
On February 16th, Co-Found Emily Caulkins taught a class to Pleasantville’s Girl Scouts on how to bake chocolate chip cookies! They had a great time earning their little badges! These sheets designed by Jennie helped the kids follow along while Emily showed them how to bake the cookies, and how recipes work.
Middle School Winter Dance Night
On February 3rd, 2023, we had a BLAST hosting a Middle School only Dance Night at Pleasantville’s Memorial Hall! Cass was back with Central Iowa DJ blasting tunes. We offered free drinks and snacks as always, and the kids had a fantastic time dancing and snapping photos at the photo booth area. We had fun giveaways, too!
The PvilleYI Very Merry Chick-Fil-A Christmas Dinner
On December 20th, 2022, PvilleYI hosted the Very Merry Chick-Fil-A Christmas Dinner! Middle and High School students were invited to attend. The event was held at Fairview Christian Church and catered by Chick-Fil-A. Teens were welcomed with festive tables and a small stocking filled with candy and fun items. Marcy Pettyjohn sewed each little stocking and donated them. The teens loved them!
It was a very fun night and everyone left with full tummies and a lot of great memories.
Post Game Party 2022
We were so excited to have 120 students attend our 2022 Post Game Party! That is our highest event attendance to date. This event was, as always, FREE.
This event was for Middle School and High School students and took place after the PHS home football game. Students were greeted warmly (quite literally, it was COLD!) and welcomed into the Memorial Hall. Tons of snacks and pop were waiting for them, as well as tables to hang out at and a dance floor booming with music thanks to Cass Lester with Central Iowa DJ.
We had such a great time!
Homecoming Window Painting
Our building might not be done, not even CLOSE, BUT, we still have windows and hey, why not get them all painted for Homecoming!
We partnered with the PHS Art Department, who sent us four incredibly talented students to get the windows ready for Homecoming.
We treated them to, you guessed it, HAPPY MEALS because WHY NOT?
These young women did an incredible job, and we know our whole town loved seeing their work!
16,040 Meals Distributed: Summer 2022
This Summer, we helped distribute 16,040 meals to Pleasantville Kids and Teens! A total of 4,010 Bags were passed out, each containing two breakfasts and two lunches. Knoxville Food Youth Initiative has worked so hard to meet Pleasantville’s requested numbers, and we were so blessed to work with them to get those meals into the hands of our community members. They serve not only Pleasantville, but Knoxville, Melcher, and more!
Teens and kids showed up with parents to pick up their meals. They also came on their own, pulling wagons or riding their bicycles. We loved serving them and getting to say hello every Monday Wednesday and Friday.
Over the summer, we had many incredible volunteers who helped us! We would like to give a special shout-out to teens Reagan Murray and Adoniah Koenig who were present almost every day that we distributed meals. Also to the many little ones who came along with their moms or grandmas to help out!
A HUGE thanks goes to Pleasantville’s St. Paul United Methodist Church for the use of their facility, and for the women who volunteered each Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Their hard work, hospitality, and joyful presence reminded us so much of Jesus, who they love and serve.
And we can’t forget to say thank you to our dear friend Jim Brees, who delivered the meals and took care of much of the heavy lifting every single day. Selfless, helpful, and generous, we looked forward to hearing his big booming “hello!” each time he arrived. His arms were always full of boxes and coolers, or popsicles he brought for the children who were helping.
We love our community. We were so happy to help serve them this summer!
Girl Scout Troop Mommy & Me Spa Day
On Friday, May 6th, PvilleYI was excited to be invited to help out at a very special Mommy and Me Spa Day hosted by Pleasantville’s Girl Scout troop! We provided a table where the girls could give their moms a luxurious sugar hand scrub, followed by some lovely lotions and perfume. We also donated a bag of goodies for each mom and daughter to take home with them. It was a FUN time!
Cookie Decorating With Pleasantville Girl Scouts
On February 16, 2022, PvilleYI Co-Founder Emily Caulkins taught our local Pleasantville Girl Scout Troop 624. It was a ton of fun! The Girl Scouts learned a little bit about the science of baking, as well as techniques for decorating sugar cookies like a pro.
The cookies and frosting the Girl Scouts used were made at our cookie decorating class the night before, where we taught teens how to mix, roll out, cut, and bake sugar cookies.
We were so happy to spend time with all these happy, smiling faces! We’re proud of these Girl Scouts and congratulations on getting your baking badges!
Cookie Making Class
On February 15th, 2022, we had a cookie making class for a small group of middle school and high school students. PvilleYI co-founder Emily Caulkins taught the teens the basics of making large batches of sugar cookies. She showed them how to carefully measure ingredients (yes, you really do need to make sure that was 2 cups and not 3), how to mix the ingredients properly, how to roll the dough just right, and how to use cookie cutters and bake the cookies. The teens also made delicious frosting.
This class was for the teens to learn baking skills, but it was also an opportunity for them to give back to the community. These cookies and frosting were going to be used by our Pleasantville Girl Scout troop to use for their cookie decorating class, which Emily taught as well.
We served these helpful bakers some pizza while we waited for cookies to bake. During this time we were able to talk and learn about each other, see the teens incredible art in their sketchbooks, and laugh together.
It was a fantastic time. Thank you to Pleasantville’s St. Paul’s United Methodist Church for allowing us to use their Family Life Center and kitchen for this event!
