The Great Oaks Community Changers (GOCC) is a special club at the school tasked with making a difference. When these students learned about a special initiative called #Socktober created by “Kid President,” they joined right in.
“Socks are the most requested items in homeless shelters, especially during the winter months, so we are trying to help out,” Great Oaks Academy Kindergarten Teacher Dana Zuhlke said. “We sent out the Kid President video to hype up the kids, and then sent flyers to parents, and posted on our school social media.”
Club members interacted with fellow scholars, relatives, and friends to collect over 200 pairs of new sock donations; the most collected by the school since they started participating in 2015.
“Students were wondering why socks were so important,” Zuhlke said. “That brought up the discussion about how when people get cold, the cold affects the fingers and toes first and we talked about how socks would help that.”
The donations were given to SOS Community Services, an organization that is dedicated to finding affordable housing for those who struggle with homelessness. The school received a kind note from the organization recently.
“Thank you for collecting and donating socks for Socktober,” the note read. “These socks were given to families living in SOS housing and shelter. Families living in SOS housing often come with very few possessions. Many of the families had to leave behind much of their clothing, toys, books, and other basic items when they became homeless.
“Because of you, people will have socks - a very basic, but important and necessary thing! Thank you for thinking of others who need a helping hand in our community.”
Great work helping others, Great Oaks!
About Great Oaks Academy
Visit Great Oaks Academy's blog to read more stories like this.