HANES SOCK DRIVE 2020

 

When our team has gone out to feed God’s forgotten children, I have often been asked if I had any socks (particularly if during a rainstorm). There have been occasions when someone went to Costco, purchased several packs of socks and gave them to me to distribute, along with the food packages. During our distributions, without exception, the socks went considerably faster than the food. I have often pulled off to the side to call the donor and say, ‘Hey, those [50, 100] pairs of socks you gave me are gone; took only 15 minutes.’

Thus, it truly made my day in early November 2020 when With Actions and in Truth, Inc. was selected to partner with the Hanes Sock Drive. We received 1,000 pairs of socks to support those who are homeless or facing housing insecurity (i.e. living in shelters).

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My initial move was to reach out to the Springfield Gardens Family Inn (Jamaica, NY), where we have distributed sandwich packages since 2015. Due to covid restrictions, they were not allowing any outside entities to bring food, but they would accept socks. Most of the residents at this family shelter are women and children, with very few men. We gave away all 250 pairs of women’s socks; 274 in all.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was through a church connection that I recently became aware of the Garden Inn Men’s Shelter (Jamaica, NY), not far from where I live. We delivered 400 pairs of socks to this facility that houses more than 300 men. Due to covid restrictions, we were unable to personally distribute the socks, as we had done so the previous day at Springfield Gardens Family Inn, so we left them with the supervisor and program director.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Of course, we could not forget those who served our country. Every year at Christmas time, various ministries at my church, St. Albans Congregational Church (SACC), collect and deliver socks to the veterans at the local V.A. Hospital (St. Albans, NY). They have 140 residents and requested three pairs for each one. This year, a few members of SACC’s Trustee Board donated socks, along with the 150 pairs we contributed. Over the course of three-to-four days, I worked with fellow Trustee Brenda Lyew to gift-wrap the socks in batches of three, which we delivered to the V.A. on Monday, December 21. Due to covid restrictions, we had to leave the packages with supervisors who met us at the front door.

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Earlier that day, I received a call from Raymond Perez, an outreach specialist at J-CAP. Through the grapevine, he heard about what we were doing and reached out to us to support the 60 men they sponsor. Fortunately, we were able to honor his request to the tune of 120 pairs of socks.

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The remainder of our bounty was distributed to homeless individuals.

 

Having done so privately, I would like to publicly thank HanesBrands, Inc. for the honor to partner with them for their 2020 Hanes Sock Drive; the first of what I hope will be several partnerships going forward.

 

Marc Taylor

December 29, 2020