Rapidly growing Peters Township company gives back for holiday
The Rockwellian portrayal of a table full of delighted diners celebrating Thanksgiving doesn’t apply to everyone.
A Peters Township company is bringing the holiday cheer to some folks who otherwise would miss it.
Last year, Sunny Days In-Home Care LLC provided Thanksgiving meals for 20 of its clients. That number rises to 30 for this Thanksgiving Day, when the company’s managers deliver and prepare the traditional turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, vegetables and cranberry sauce.
“Each of our managers chose three of their clients who would be the most thankful and deserving,” director of communications Ashley Bennett said.
She and others gathered a week in advance at the Sunny Days office on Center Church Road to get all the nonperishable materials ready to reach their destinations throughout southwestern Pennsylvania.
“We’ll try to take care of people who don’t have families, or the families or out of town, or the families aren’t involved,” David Ellenwood, company president, said.
He and his wife, Evelyn, founded Sunny Days six years ago to provide personal-needs care for senior citizens and people with disabilities, a niche that apparently was necessary to fill.
“The growth is crazy, with the number of baby boomers turning 65 every day and going out for the next 20 years,” Ellenwood explained. “The need is incredible, and the hardest part about is going to be finding people to work. We’re going to run out of people.”
As for his company, its upward trajectory has gained plenty of recognition. Most notably, Inc. Magazine’s Inc. 5000 list ranked Sunny Days No. 1 nationally among the fastest-growing home health companies, noting a growth rate of 776 percent in the past three years.
Ellenwood is a 2016 finalist in the Western Pennsylvania region for the Strategic Growth Forum’s EY Entrepreneur of the Year, and Sunny Days is No. 157 on Entrepreneur Magazine’s 360 list.
The company now is embarking on acquiring other companies, including two in Michigan, plus it is poised to experience even more growth from within.
“Our first franchisee is on board and going to be starting soon from Chicago,” Ellenwood said.
“We’re moving up. We’re expanding. We’re doing the things we have to do, and I think that all ties in to us giving back. I think the two go hand-in-hand.”