Our Mission
Our mission is to improve the educational impact on children of Warren Township Schools by providing food, clothing, toiletry items and cleaning supplies to children and their families, and to provide an opportunity for the community to come together in support to help those in need.
Meet Our Team
The Executive Board is the Warren Township Council of PTAs. Our Sonny Day Coordinators are:
- Karen Kinley: Pre-Order Coordinator
- Collette Johnson: Clothing Coordinator
- Diane Simon: Volunteer Coordinator
- Carissa Dollar: Administration Coordinator
- Tonia Turner: Food Coordinator
- Kathryn Basham: Delivery Coordinator
- Sharon Berry: Toiletry Coordinator
Our History
Sonny Day was founded by the Warren Township Council of PTAs in 2013. On behalf of the Council, Carissa Dollar, 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.
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 was held on October 30, 2020 with Sonny Day’s first distribution in the new space occurring on November 14, 2020.
Our local schools and Warren Township community have continued to provide amazing support through both donations and volunteer hours over the years of operation. Partnerships with Gleaners Food Bank(2014), Midwest Food Bank (2016), Audrey’s Place Furniture (2018), Indy Hunger Network (2020), David Electric (2020), Bailey & Wright Dentistry (2020), Post Road Family Dentistry (2020), Meijer (2020),Indianapolis East Rotary (2020), InspireSmall.Biz (2020), Indiana Diaper Bank (2022), and Aldi (2023) have provided Sonny Day with consistent month-to-month support, providing stability for our pantry.
We have also been blessed to receive generous grants over the years from the National PTA and the Indy Hunger Network.
As of December 2024, we have provided assistance to over 16,000 families, feeding over 75,000 people. We look forward to many more years of providing support for Warren Township’s students and their families in our new home.