Community center in Pine Island becomes nonprofit

(ABC 6 News) – In a time where we’ve felt more separated than ever, one woman in Pine Island was dreaming up ideas to bring people together.

The product of those dreams is called Miss Angie’s Place.

The community gathering space has been open since February but is now transitioning into a non-profit organization.

Miss Angie’s Place offers programs for kids like nature camps, painting parties and after-school classes.

But there’s something there for adults too like yoga, meditation and guest speakers on surviving things like substance disorders or traumas.

When asked why she wanted to become a non-profit, owner Angie Severson said she wanted more people to have access to these resources.

"I don’t want people to have to pay to come to an event like that. I wanna make a place where everybody can come together. It doesn’t matter the race, the gender, the ethnicity," Severson said.

Parents are glad to have somewhere to send their kids to socialize coming out of an isolating pandemic.

"The fun and creativity and the colors and the life. It’s just fun to have a real-life sesame street in town," Olivia Kimble, a mother attending Miss Angie’s Place with her daughter Arabelle, said.

Severson said starting a new organization is difficult at times. She has to work another job to make ends meet but she is excited about the growth she’s seeing and hopes to expand into bigger buildings and hire more workers in the coming years.