Knoxville Rec Center Night
We had another great time at the Knoxville Rec Center on March 4, 2023! We love renting the rec center and inviting Pleasantville’s teens over to swim and play basketball. They love to socialize and get out of the house on cold nights! It’s always a hit!
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.
Care Bears for Girl Scouts
On December 14, 2022, PvilleYI co-founders were invited to attend the Christmas Party for Girl Scout Troop 624. Of course we couldn’t go empty handed! Thanks to a generous donation, we brought a Care Bear to every single girl scout. Each box was wrapped in festive Christmas paper. The girls could hardly wait to open them! They were so excited, and we were too!
Rec Center Night
We had a great night at the Knoxville Rec Center! Teens were able to play basketball and swim. They had a great time! We provided snacks, of course!
2022 Trick or Treat on the Square
Trick or Treat! We had so much fun on the square with everyone this year!
Thanks to all of the local businesses and organizations who participated! We are so happy when we can all come together and make the night special for the kids in our community.
Those who participated were:
The City of Pleasantville
Pleasantville Chamber of Commerce
Friends of the Library
Masonic Lodge
Pleasantville Christian Church
Unleashed Pet Boarding
Christ Family Church
Zag Trax Shriners
Fairview Christian Church
St Paul’s United Methodist Church
Brandi Booth
Bill Harvey Construction
Stubb’s Propane
D&D Auto
People’s Bank
Smokey Row
Auxiliary
Adriana Freeborn
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!
Our Middle School Dance was EPIC!
95 Students attended our annual Middle School Dance on September 23, 2022. That’s just about every 7th and 8th grader that attends Pleasantville Schools!
We had tons of snacks, funny giveaways, DJ and atmosphere, and of course our photo booth.
A huge THANKS goes to The City of Pleasantville for the use of the Memorial Hall, as well as to Cass Lester with Central Iowa Dj.
We danced the night away!
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!
8,800 Meals Distributed in June
In the month of June, Pleasantville Youth Initiative distributed 2,200 bags of food. Each bag contained 4 meals: 2 breakfasts and 2 lunches in each bag. These meals were handed out on Monday Wednesday and Friday during June. Our partnership with Knoxville Youth Food Initiative has provided much needed nutrition to the kids in our community. We could not do this without the hospitality of St Paul’s United Methodist Church, who’s volunteers have opened up the facility and given their time to help us each day.
We hope to continue our meal distribution as soon as possible in the month of July. KFYI is working on this and we await their word. We will keep everyone updated!
4th Of July 2022 Grand Marshals
We were HONORED to be chosen as the 2022 4th of July parade Grand Marshals! We are grateful to our community for the love and generosity they have poured out. We love Pleasantville!
Swim Party at Carlisle Pool
On June 18th, PvilleYI rented the Carlisle pool for a fun night of swimming! This event was free for Middle School and High School students. Everyone had a fantastic time. The weather was just right for an evening swim!
Donation from Pleasantville FFA
We want to say THANK YOU to Pleasantville FFA for a $300 donation! We are honored to receive this and so grateful for all this organization does for students in our community! We believe in the future of agriculture, too! 😎 THANK YOU!!
Saint Anthony Community Support Grant
We are so very honored to be chosen as a recipient of the Saint Anthony Community Support Grant! We were awarded a grant of $750 toward our building project. We are THANKFUL! Bless you St Anthony Catholic Church!
Games At Pleasantville Pig Out 2022
The Pleasantville Pig Out is always a fun time! We loved participating by providing fun games for teens and kids. We set up 9-Square In The Air and managed to flatten 3 balls, but it was worth the fun! We also set up a football toss and handed out little squeaky piggies and bacon bandaids to the kids. We had a blast! Thanks Celebrate Church for letting us borrow your 9-Square set!
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!
Over $7,000 Raised At Silent Auction
On April 30th, 2022, PvilleYI hosted a Silent Auction fundraiser with guest speaker Van Harden. We had a great turn out and raised $7,440 to help fund our work over the next year in Pleasantville!
We are so thankful for all the hard work that our volunteers put into the event. We appreciated especially the help of our volunteer musicians, Mike Fust and his daughter Grace Fust, as well as our guest “amateur” auctioneer Mark Core.
And of course, we were more than honored to hear the kind and supportive words that Van Harden had to share about our work here! We were so encouraged by his stories and his daily prayer, “Tell me. Send me. Show me.”
We would like to say THANK YOU to all of the individuals and organizations who donated goods to our silent auction fundraiser. THANK YOU for helping us raise over $7,000 for our work here in Pleasantville! We are GRATEFUL!
Jerry & Pandia Bender
Paul Gordon
Midwest Wheel
Iowa Pork Producers
Iowa State Fair
Skip Jackson
The Galvin House
Minnesota Vikings
Green Bay Packers
Rubish to Rubies
Stubbs Propane
Angel Bingham with Young Living
Knoxville Aviation
Fireside Winery
Shivers Farms
Rejuvenate Rx
Iowa State University
Pleasantville Girl Scouts
Radiant Candle
Barb Pettyjohn
Brett Campbell
The West Place
Brian & Jerri Vestal with ABO Research
Sams Club
Oskaloosa Axe Club
Carly Hodson with Pampered Chef
Peoples Bank
Nancy Kelderman with Avon
Permanent Cosmetics
Lou Lane Soap Co
Michael & Jacque Moats
Tournament Tackle
Lakefront Living
Covenant Construction Services
Smokey Row
Iowa Cubs
Gilcrest Jewitt
Angie Hulsebus with Mary Kay
Kelsey Sutter
Mary Hampton
Elrod Timber
National Sprint Car Hall of Fame
Justin and Stephanie Fehrer
Strawhat Farms
Checkerboard
Belzer Equipment
Margie Mix
Ky's Custom Woodworking & Restoration
Stringtown Seed Shop
Iowa Wild
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!
