Socks are one of the most overlooked items when we think about donating or even exchanging gifts. From mismatched socks, to the notorious Christmas socks or even ones with holes, it can be easy to think that there’s no use for your socks. 

But the annual Southeast Sock Drive gives new life to these socks. The Sock Drive is a city-wide event, hosted by the People’s City Mission of Lincoln and the Realtors Association of Lincoln. They collect new, used, mismatched and even socks with holes to donate to the homeless or near-homeless population throughout the whole month of February. 

Southeast has been participating in the Sock Drive since 2017, and last year donated more than 800 socks.

“We have to call businesses for this event and get more people aware of what’s going on,” Bellia York (9) said. 

Another important thing to note when considering donating to the Sock Drive is that your socks don’t have to be wearable. The People’s City Mission will still take them if they have a huge hole or pulled threads. They are actually able to recycle these unwearable socks and get money to buy other items that the Mission may need. There is no better time to filter through your sock drawer and get rid of socks that you don’t wear anymore.

“The more people we can get to [donate], the more help we can give to other people,” York said. 

Ultimately, the Sock Drive is a great way for students to make a difference in their community with something as simple as their own socks. By accepting socks in all conditions, it makes the event very reasonable and accessible for all students and teachers. If you couldn’t make it this year, consider donating next February at Southeast, or a variety of other locations that are listed on the Realtors Association of Lincoln’s website.