Sock it to poverty, Sion’s annual sock and underwear drive for Redemptorist Social Services, began on Friday Sept 15 this year.
Redemptorist is a non-profit organization dedicated to helping the “working poor” or people in or close to poverty who need outside support to stay afloat.
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Our fundraiser helps address the immediate need for socks and underwear amongst those in need, since they are essential for proper health and hygiene, but don’t last as long as other clothing items.
“Socks and underwear are the most needed items for the people, and those items are also the fewest items donated,” Theology teacher Bonnie Haghirian siad. “Socks and undies cannot be used items, so they must be new, and donors more frequently give used clothing. Socks can be crucial to the unhoused people, because many of them are outside, walking all day long. Their feet often get frostbite, and if it is raining or snowing, their shoes and socks get wet, and frostbite settles in very quickly.
In order to promote student donations, the fundraiser is turned into a grade level competition with prizes for the winning class. This year, the senior class dominated the competition from day one.
Beginning Friday, the seniors brought in 322 pairs of socks and underwear while all other classes brought in zero pairs.
As the competition continued, more classes brought in socks each day but were ultimately no competition to the seniors.
The senior class brought in 2,142 of the 4,646 total pairs, putting them in first place on Sept 22, the last day of the competition. The sophomores came in 4th place, juniors 3rd and freshman 2nd.
Most importantly, the school exceeded our initial goal of 3,500 pairs of socks and underwear. Our donations will serve hundreds of marginalized people in the Kansas City area this fall and winter.
“Fundraisers and donation drives are important for our school so that we can appreciate what we have, personally and as a community,” Haghirian said. “It is also important for us to have a personal sense of the need for the dignity of the human person who will wear what we donate. Part of our goal as a Sion school is to help build a world of justice, peace and love. By doing what we can, we attempt to help create that world.”
