Sonny Day was founded by the Warren Township Council of PTAs in 2013. On behalf of the Council, Carissa Dollar (Council President 2011-2013, 2015-2017), requested that the school board designate space in an underused building for the PTA to open a food and clothing pantry. The MSD Warren Township School Board and administration generously granted the PTA space in Highlander Park (the former Heather Hills Elementary). Parent volunteers and a group of retired Heather Hills teachers then joined together to open the Sonny Day Community Center, named after former Heather Hills custodian Sonny Caldwell.

Our local schools and Warren Township community have continued to provide amazing support through both donations and volunteer hours over our first seven years of operation. Partnerships with Gleaners Food Bank (2014) and Midwest Food Bank (2016) have provided Sonny Day with consistent month-to-month support, providing stability for our pantry.

2020 has brought many challenges to our eastside community, dramatically increasing the number of clients we serve each month. Many community partners have stepped up this year to help us meet the increasing needs of our community, including; Indianapolis East Rotary Club, Warren Education Association, Audrey’s Place Furniture, Open in Indiana, and Mental Health America of Indiana. We have also been blessed to receive two generous grants this fall, thanks to the National PTA and the Indy Hunger Network.

In the summer of 2020, MSD Warren Township invited us to move our operations into the newly established Moorhead Community Resource Center. We were excited to strengthen our relationship with the district by moving into this newly renovated space, which will provide many additional resources for our community. The grand opening of the MCRC will be held on October 30, 2020 with Sonny Day’s first distribution in the new space scheduled for November 14, 2020.

In our first seven years of operation, we have provided assistance to over 6,600 families, feeding over 35,000 people. We look forward to many more years of providing support for Warren Township’s students and their families in our new home.