In Loving Memory

It is with profound sadness that Dayspring Center shares the passing of our Executive Director, Lori Casson, on April 13, 2026.

Lori led Dayspring Center for twenty years – not as a job, but as a calling. She arrived every day with love for the families we serve, fierce belief in the mission, and an extraordinary gift for seeing the dignity and potential in every person who walked through our doors. When families experiencing homelessness had stopped believing in themselves, Lori believed in them. That belief changed lives. It changed this organization. It changed this community.

As Dayspring Center marks 40 years of serving Indianapolis families, her fingerprints are on every part of who we are. The staff she mentored and loved. The families she welcomed and championed. The partnerships she built. The mission she embodied every single day: to lovingly meet the basic needs of homeless families seeking assistance and connecting them with opportunities to help them realize their potential. We grieve her passing deeply, and we are humbled to have had twenty years alongside someone who gave so much of herself to this community and to the families who needed her most.

We are working closely with her family to honor the life and legacy of Lori Casson in a way that reflects the fullness of who she was and all that she gave. We will share information about ways to celebrate her life and legacy as those plans come together.

Dayspring Center’s doors remain open. Our mission continues. Lori’s spirit will guide this work for as long as we serve families in this community. The light she carried into every room does not go out…it lives on in every life touched.