‘Everybody has really stepped in’: Southeast Indiana woman holds fundraiser to boost school safety

RISING SUN, Ind. — After the Covenant School shooting in Nashville, a Southeast Indiana woman decided she wanted to do something prevent the same situation from happening at her kids’ school.

“If something were to happen, even if my kids weren’t there, our lives would never be the same,” Abby Fox said.

Fox lives in Rising Sun, Indiana, which sits along the river in Ohio County.

She said Rising Sun is a small town, full of people who are there for each other, and she wanted to do something to prevent her community from having to experience the tragedy others have faced.

To do so, Fox went to her kids’ school district.

“I was actually doing the car line and talking with parents and she said, ‘hey, you got a second? I wanted to pitch an idea with you,’” said Rising Sun Schools Superintendent Brandon Roeder.

Fox wanted to throw a fundraiser, and Roeder already knew what the district needed money for when it came to school safety: a new security camera system.

“We would be replacing an antiquated camera system that was put in the early 2000s,” Roeder said. “Where now it’ll be motion detected to where we can basically track a person, and intruder through our school district without having to switch cameras, it’ll automatically follow them.”

But the new system has a hefty price tag attached. Roeder said the district needs $40,000 to purchase the cameras.

Rather than being intimidated by the cost, Fox has decided to go ahead with the fundraiser, titled One Sunny Day.

One Sunny Day is taking place Sunday from 3-7 p.m. at Fox Farms in Rising Sun. Fox said it will have a petting zoo, face painting, a bounce house, silent auction, food trucks, live music and farm fresh produce.

The fundraising has already started though, and as of Friday afternoon, Fox said they’ve raised more than $27,000.

“It changes minute by minute, in a good way,” she said. “Everybody has really stepped in to get to this big goal.”

She said right now, they’re only accepting checks made out to the school district, but she’s working on a Venmo option for the event on Sunday.