Peace Connections News

  13 Ways to Kill Your Community      Over the past spring and summer, Harvey County citizens demonstrated their commitment to civic improvement by participating in a community-wide book club dedicated to reading “Thirteen Ways to Kill Your Community”, by Doug Griffiths. This book is a provocative examination of local culture and resource structures, raising awareness around the main issues that prevent communities from reaching their full potential. Nearly 200 copies of “13 Ways” were distributed and a variety of book clubs met monthly to dive into the work. The final event was a community-wide breakfast and workshop, honing the wider concepts into more focused action directives for the groups and people who participated.      We’re proud to be part of a city that is open to self-examination and self-improvement. This process is only the beginning - the fruits of this labor are just beginning to ripen! And, there are more great ideas and more amazing ...

  Volunteer Opportunities

  Summertime Celebrations      As has become our tradition, we capped off SEAK (Summer Enrichment Activities for Kids) with the Newton Fire Department blasting us with their firehose! 90 kids that day enjoyed lunch with us at the park. We served an additional 900 meals this summer over 2023, for a total of  over 2,500 lunches to kids and families ! We are thankful for volunteer helpers from across the community who helped transport meals, serve kids, and bring engaging activities.      We petted a chicken, blasted pop bottles of water into the sky and danced to a silly song about dinosaurs. We also learned about the life cycle of plants, combined a bubble machine with a slip-and-slide, and floated a huge, brightly colored parachute above our heads … and that was just before lunch! As these volunteers were bringing their talents and activities to engage the kids, our staff and local restaurant partners were preparing to serve a healthy, nutritional...

  18 MONTH CELEBRATION  There is a lot of change in the air, which comes with the changing of seasons. For Barbara Smith, this also means a change in title. For the past 18 months, Barbara has been a participant at Circle of Hope, where she has been known as a Circle Leader.  A Circle Leader is someone who is leading the charge to create change in her life and hope for her future.  As she completes this 18-month journey, she will no longer be a Circle Leader in the Tuesday night program, but will be known as a  Community Leader! She has forged her way through the budgeting class alongside peers and two dedicated Allies- James Wenger and Marlene Faul. Barbara has been able to create a budget (and mostly stuck with it), recognizing each day as a new opportunity to try again. She has done this with humor and grace, expressing frustration at setbacks and joy with the accomplishments. Before Barbara even celebrated her accomplishment, she was already asking how she c...