Businesses form charity block party

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July 31, 2014 - 12:00 AM

Students, brace yourselves: Autumn is coming.
While some look forward to another school year and others not so much, one woman saw an opportunity to use the upcoming semester as a reason to celebrate life and help local people in need.
With Pam Tressler’s vision and PowerUp Iola joining in, Iola will soon celebrate its inaugural Back to School Block Party.
“So many people have been talking about the two little girls with cancer and the teacher who was in a car accident,” Tressler said.
Tressler, members of PowerUp Iola and other volunteers have worked feverishly in recent weeks to organize the Aug. 14 event on the courthouse square. They approached hairdressers around the town to provide $10 haircuts for children going back to school.
Local church groups will prepare themed baskets to be given away at a drawing, the high school jazz band will perform in the gazebo, Emily Sigg of Fifty 50 is designing T-shirts to sell, and Sonic Equipment is providing an outdoor inflatable movie screen for families to watch movies.
A dunk tank and train rides also are in the works. The event is scheduled to run from 5:30 to 11 p.m., with haircuts from 5 to 8 and the movie starting around 9:15, after the high school band performs.
“We’ve already got a lot of people saying they’re going to the event on Facebook,” Elyssa Jackson of PowerUp Iola said.
The goal is to raise $5,000 to help four local people in need: Cheyenne Reno and Kayla Genoble, children battling cancer; Joyce Atkinson, a middle school teacher recently injured in a car accident; and Jamie Newland, a teacher at Jefferson Elementary School who also is fighting cancer.
Sheila Lampe said the Iola Area Chamber of Commerce will set up a booth to collect donated school supplies. Merchants around the square, such as Funkie Monkey and Audacious Boutique, will participate in a “sales tax-free” time for the event and
run specials in their stores.
Jackson said the Iola City Council Allen County Commission were quick to approve the event, so long as they promised to clean up the square afterward.
“It was really great that they’d support this,” she said.
Tressler and Jackson said they need volunteers to help with set-up and clean-up, as well as to find more food vendors.
So far, the Back To School Block Party only has cotton candy, popcorn and sno cones planned. Tressler and Jackson also want to showcase local talent and possibly have more students perform before or after the high school band. Anyone who would like to help may contact Tressler at 365-9788 or Jackson at (661) 886-9446 or by coming to the next PowerUp meeting at 7 p.m. Aug. 7 at Country Lanes in Iola.
More information on the party can be found on PowerUp Iola’s Facebook page.

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