On a cold weekend in February, over 300 volunteers tagged & bagged 116,542 pairs of socks, of which 60,850 were immediately distributed to shelters & organizations in southwestern Ontario. These socks were collected through the "Josie Dye Show's Socks for the Streets" Campaign on Indie 88. Thank you to all who helped spread warmth comfort & mobility this winter.
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"Catching up at work after the holiday season, I saw a post for a company volunteer opportunity at the Socks 4 Souls Canada sorting event. The company I work for is always looking for volunteer opportunities... It also allows our employees to become more social outside workplace, team build, and help those less fortunate than us, all at the same time. It’s a win-win situation! The sorting event was great fun. We surprised ourselves how much we could accomplish as a team. At the end of the event, Socks 4 Souls encouraged us to take some socks to distribute to those in need closer to home. One of my co-workers did so. She handed out socks to a person near a highway on-ramp and someone sitting on the ground |
in the cold outside a fast food restaurant, just to name a few. She was so inspired, she started a sock drive at work! It’s truly a wonderful thing, where a simple thing like socks, can give hope, open your heart, be kind and inspire others to do the same." Mareeza M |
Inaugural Distribution Event
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On Saturday November 3rd, 2018 we hosted our first sock distribution event. About 65 845 socks were distributed to 41 shelters from the GTA, Newmarket, Brampton, St. Catherines, Guelph, Hamilton, Orangeville and Cambridge. Twelve volunteers worked with frozen hands, but warm hearts for seven hours counting and loading boxes of socks. It was a lot of work, but really great to meet some of the people, whose shelters we donate to….putting a face to a name. Everyone was grateful to have socks just in time for the cold weather. |
Homeless Connect EventOn October 28, 2018 we joined dozens of other health related, education/training & housing service providers at the Annual Homeless Connect Toronto event held at the Mattamy Center. Thanks to the generosity of Heat Holders and their Making Life Warmer Project, 1300 pairs of thermal socks were distributed to clients. |
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4th Annual Sock Sorting Event |
On January 27 & 28, 2018 over 300 volunteers spent 2 days tagging, bagging and sorting nearly 300,000 pairs of socks. A big thank you to our corporate supporters including Indie 88, Poly 5 Plastics, Burt's Bees and all the volunteers who donated their time, talents and energy to make this happen!
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Thank you to all the companies, schools, organizations & individuals who contributed through sock drives:
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My name is Chloé Hinch and I am a kindergarten teacher at ÉÉC du Bon-Berger. My kids have been really concerned about the amount of people who will be sleeping on the streets this cold winter. It was difficult to find an opportunity that was age-appropriate for my students, and so, this was the perfect way for to get involved. Many of them were thrilled to bring money from their piggy-bank. We used a chart to count how many socks they would be able to "buy" with their donation, and you can't even imagine how excited and proud they were!! Thank you for this opportunity to make a difference. Keep up the amazing work!!! |
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As a result, they wear these items to the point where they are no longer protecting their feet – even during winter months. Most of our patrons do not drive, meaning that they often spend entire days walking in wet socks and suffer the side-effects: blisters, athletes foot and even “trench foot” in extreme circumstances.
With Socks 4 Souls donation, we can now proactively offer clean, dry socks to our patrons and their children and we will have these socks available for distribution in the Community Chest, our needs bank of essential clothing and toiletry items, that will open when the building of our new facility is complete. Thank you Socks 4 Souls for helping to improve the lives of our patrons. |
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We soon decided to collect socks with the help of Socks 4 Souls and reach our goal of 1000 pairs of socks in the month of December to celebrate the virtue of charity. We would not have thought that we would be able to meet this goal but with the help of the students, staff, and families of St. Clement we were able to get 1000 socks by Christmas.
The Me to We team collected the socks twice a week and sorted them so they were ready for Socks for souls pick up. |
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"I had the pleasure of working as a volunteer during the sock sorting event for S4S. The experience gave more to me than I did to the cause. The time allowed me to strengthen relationships between friends and coworkers. The committee members were organized and professional; they had worked so hard to bring in the donations and arrange all the details to make the project a success." - Anon |
The vibe in the room was energetic as each group pushed their limits to keep up an amazing pace. The friendly competition energized all of us and soon our sorting madness of literally thousands of socks was over. |