Socks for Seniors project kicks off
FRANKLIN TWP — Butler County’s senior centers have started a campaign to warm the hearts — and feet — of senior citizens.
Starting this month, those visiting the 10 senior centers will be asked to take part in a Socks for Seniors campaign.
All centers will be collecting and distributing new socks from now until mid-December. Each month, each senior center will be distributing its collected socks to the local elderly.
Pam Malachin, the regional manager for the Nutrition Group that has a contract with the county to operate the senior centers, said she got the idea of collecting new socks to give to residents of nursing homes and retirement facilities from the Internet.
Malachin said, “This is the first time we have done this. I saw this on the Internet. It is actually a nationwide nonprofit organization.”
“What they want is other groups to sponsor a sock drive to get them to other seniors,” Malachin said.
The sock distribution will serve another purpose in addition to keeping toes toasty this fall. Stopping by to drop off socks will provide a bit of camaraderie.
“It’s so that people are in contact with them, so they don’t feel in isolation,” said Malachin. “Some seniors, their families might have moved away.”
“And we want to get folks to know that the senior centers are there. We want people to come to the senior centers and enjoy what we have going on,” Malachin said.
“I just thought it was nice way for our seniors and senior centers to give back to the community and let them know that we are here and this is something we can do for you,” she said.
Stacey Wolinski, the manager of the Mount Chestnut Senior Center in the Mount Chestnut Presbyterian Church, 727 W. Old Route 422, said the 25 regulars at her center have already collected 107 pairs of socks.
“I am getting all kinds of socks: athletic socks, white, black, some really fancy stripes. We want it to be a bright spot in their day when they put on these socks,” said Wolinski.
“They have to be new socks. That’s the only criteria,” said Malachin. “It doesn’t matter what color they are, if they are printed, if they are plain. We just ask that the socks be new. I’ve seen fun designs on socks and I’ve seen fuzzy socks you can lounge in.”
At the end of each month, Malachin said, each center will take the socks it has collected to whatever senior facility the center manager chooses.
“We are having a little competition between the centers to see which center can collect the most socks. It is just a little way to push the managers and do something good with it,” said Malachin. The center that collects the most socks will be rewarded in some way, she said.
She said some of the sites might have a collection box, others might have a clothesline and hang their socks come from it.
Wolinski said, “We are really happy to be trying to do something to help the folks in our community. We try to help out the food pantry at the church. We try to give back wherever possible.”
“I think this something we could do. It doesn’t take a lot of effort or a lot of money but it really sends the message out that we care,” Malachin said.
