Sock collection project continues to grow and warm those in need 

“Warm feet, warm hearts, give socks.”

It’s a simple phrase that Beth Hickman, a Jacksonville Community United Methodist Church member, believes in as she continues her mission to ensure everyone has a pair of warm socks.

While many people recognize the importance of a cozy winter coat or blanket, socks are frequently overlooked despite being just as important.

Hickman first saw the need for socks in 2008 while volunteering for Catholic Charities in the Samaritan Center.

“We never had enough socks, and everybody was asking for socks. I have since learned that socks are the number one thing that people ask for at a food giveaway or food pantry rescue mission, any of those kinds of places,” Hickman said. “Socks are the first thing that people want, which I think is very interesting. I never would have guessed.”

Hickman got right to work, on a quest to collect new and gently used socks.

“We really believe in it,” she said of the project.

Soon after, a Christmas tree was adorned with socks and a large sock was placed in the sanctuary for people to deposit donated pairs. The goal of collecting 500 pairs of socks was exceeded by collecting an astounding 1,000 pairs, which were then donated to the Samaritan Center.

Hickman has collected nearly 17,000 pairs of socks in four years.

With everyone energized by the large turnout, people became quite creative over the next couple of years.

“One woman required her family to bring socks if they wanted to come to Thanksgiving dinner. A couple of other people had sock baskets on their desks at work or next to their desks,” Hickman said. “We have a church member who teaches at the Trumansburg Nursery School, and that year those kids collected a hundred [pairs of] socks for us. There were a lot of different people doing a lot of different things to get socks.”

Hickman fondly recalls one couple who enlisted the help of their large family from all over the country for the sock collection project. The family collected over 1,700 pairs of socks. The church collected an impressive 2,600 pairs of socks that year with the couple’s assistance.

“We haven’t sustained that, obviously, but we still collect about 1,000,” Hickman shared.

The socks are now collected year-round, with some community members regularly dropping off socks at the Attic, the church’s thrift store.

“It’s kind of an open door into the community. If we hear somebody needs socks, we figure out how to get them to them. So that’s why we really want to collect year-round at this point,” she said. “I don’t see how we’re ever going to stop doing that. That’s kind of as important to us as hearing a sermon. It’s just part of what we do now.”

The sock donation project has broadened its reach, with socks donated to schools, area food pantries and the Rescue Mission.

While volunteers aren’t needed at the moment, Hickman said that any local business interested in setting up a sock donation box should contact her.

Hickman is always looking for ways to expand the sock donation initiative. She was recently at the Ulysses Philomathic Library, which currently has winter clothes for children available, and was hit with inspiration.

“When I was there last week, I thought, ‘Geez, I wonder if these people would like socks.’ I contacted the volunteer coordinator,” Hickman said. The following week, she dropped off a big box of socks.

She said the experience of collecting and donating socks has been overwhelmingly positive.

“Those of us who have delivered socks have been met with many grateful people, and it’s really humbling because you kind of feel like, ‘Wow, you know, these are just socks,’” Hickman said. “But when you think of how cold your feet are if you don’t have socks, or if your socks are wet and you have no way to dry them and you don’t really have another pair…”

Besides socks, the Jacksonville Community United Methodist Church, in collaboration with other area organizations and volunteers, assists those in need of food and other items.

“It’s really a whole network of people trying to, in this case, make sure that people don’t go hungry,” Hickman said.

She stated that the need is growing, partly due to the rising cost of food, but also due to limited resources.

“We’ve watched food prices just skyrocket. Some people have changed their shopping habits, some people haven’t and are still buying whatever they want to buy regardless of the price,” she said. “But some people can’t get food like they did because it’s so expensive. These kinds of programs become more and more necessary.”

The church has a blue Mutual Aid sharing cabinet out front, built by a church member. It’s a team effort, with the church members rotating coverage of the cabinet. Hickman said that they try to get items that are necessary but aren’t food-related, such as cleaning products, personal need products, paper towels and toilet paper.

The cabinet will reopen in early April.

Hickman said she is always pleased when coming across people visiting the cabinet and putting it to good use. She met a few visitors while she was stocking it one day.

“I just thanked them very much for using it, and of course they thanked us for having it again. It was like the socks,” Hickman said. “It was just a really warm feeling.”

Always happy to help and serve, Hickman believes that the need for assistance will continue.

“I believe a lot of the help and the resources that were put in place during the pandemic by the government are now gone. So people are back on their own,” Hickman said. “There are people who are struggling and out of work and whose jobs were eliminated or changed during the pandemic and who no longer have the income source that they did. So my feeling is that, yes, it’s getting worse.”

She shared a story about a man who stopped at the cabinet to get a loaf of bread.

“I said, ‘You know what? I think I have a jar of peanut butter inside to go with the bread. Would you like it?’ He said, ‘Oh, that’d be lovely.’ So I went inside and got a jar of peanut butter,” she said.

Hickman welcomes community members to bring socks to the 10 a.m. Sunday service at the Jacksonville Community United Methodist Church or to contact her at 607-279-2145 for additional information.

To follow the ongoing sock collection efforts and other happenings, please visit https://www.facebook.com/jcumccommunity.

Trumansburg Connection appears every Wednesday in Tompkins Weekly. Send story ideas to editorial@vizellamedia.com.