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Usually, when you think of things that people take for granted every day, your list would include things such as food, houses, and other big items. Not many people would consider socks to be anywhere near the top of the list. However, if you ask most homeless shelters they will say that the number one clothing need of the homeless is, in fact, socks.
When asked about the inspiration behind the sock drive, Mary Kay Snyder, Chair of the PR Committee at the Board of DD said, “We have been looking for ways to give back to our community, and when I was searching for ideas, I came across the concept of having a sock drive in October and calling it Socktober.” When Snyder brought this idea to the rest of the committee, it was quickly approved and plans were under way.
Members of the committee passed out fliers and distributed boxes to several area businesses that agreed to be drop-off locations for the drive. Businesses that agreed to be drop off spots included Spotted Cow Coffeehouse, Champaign County Library, Person Centered Services, Creative Foundations, Champaign Residential Services Inc, Goshen Lanes of Mechanicsburg, the YMCA of Champaign County, and the St. Paris Library.
During the month of October, over 2,000 pairs of socks were collected and brought to the County Board offices to be sorted and distributed. Erica Maze, member of the PR Committee and staff member of the County Board stated “There is no way we would have been this successful if it hadn’t have been for our supportive community. We had several school groups that thought this was a cool idea and gathered donations to drop off at the County Board. It was just really great that so many others were inspired by this idea and helped the community out, as well.”
All the socks donated during the drive were given to Sycamore House and Caring Kitchen, in totals of 822 and 1,188, respectively. This is the second donation drive that the Champaign County Board of Developmental Disabilities has done for their community this year. If you would like to keep up with the activities of the Board and their future drives, follow them on Facebook.
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