Helping America's Homeless with Socks

 

Tom Costello Jr. was once afraid of homeless Americans.

“I was so afraid that if I saw a homeless person walking down the street, I’d cross the street,” he said.

That changed seven years ago after his wife, a volunteer at a homeless shelter, persuaded him to help with a holiday dinner for shelter residents².

Tom Costello remembers going a store and buying socks for the residents. He knew many of them were in need of clothing.

At the shelter, Costello said, he dropped a pair of socks into a bag for a woman. She asked him if she could have socks for a friend who wasn’t with her that day. He gave her another pair.

“She started to cry and told me that nobody had ever given me socks before,” Costello said. “Then she reached out and gave me a hug.”

That experience at the shelter helped Costello end his fear of the homeless. It also led him to set up a group called “The Joy of Sox.” It borrows from “The Joy of Sex,” the name of a popular book in the 1970s.

The Joy of Sox collects socks from donors³ and gives them mostly to shelters in the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania area, where Costello and his wife Nancy live.

But the group has been expanding its reach.

It now provides socks to homeless shelters in 21 states and three countries: Mexico, Afghanistan and Uganda.

Why socks?

Costello explains that some Americans give food, coats and other clothing to shelters. But donating socks was not something most people thought about. And, he said, socks are very helpful at keeping people warm, in cold weather.

A man named Kiwi, who has lived in homeless shelters, explained that socks are important to people who spend a lot of time outdoors.

Kiwi said most of the time he can find enough food through shelters and soup kitchens. But socks are much more difficult to get, he noted⁴.

Being without socks leads to “sores on your knees, between your toes and on your ankles,” he said on the Joy of Sox website.

Costello said he expects as many as 250,000 pairs of socks to be donated by the end of the year. Many come from sock-giving programs set up by schools.

Recently, Temple University collected 2,798 pairs of socks during the school’s homecoming weekend.

The Guinness Book of World Records keeps records for just about anything. Its list of records includes the most sock donations⁵ in eight hours. Temple University students broke that record by donating 2,798 pairs on October 9, 2017.

Temple University student Alyssa Woodward helped direct the sock collection effort.

She said, “We’re starting a new tradition to break a new record every year. But it really isn’t about us. It’s about who we are helping⁶.”

Costello said his hope for “The Joy of Sox” is for it to be the best sock charity in the world. He also wants the group to give six pairs of socks to every homeless person in the United States each year.

Other U.S. groups that give out socks to poor people are Bombas and Hannah’s Socks.

I’m Jonathan Evans.

Words in This Story

coat - n. an outer piece of clothing that can be long or short and that is worn to keep warm or dry

soup kitchen - n. a place that serves food to the poor

homecoming - n. an event at many colleges and high schools when past students return for a weekend that often includes a football game

charity – n. an organization for helping the needy⁷

ankle – n. the joint⁸ between the foot and leg

hug – n. putting one’s arms around someone; holding tightly⁹ in one’s arms

bag – n. a container; something used to carry personal things

resident¹ – n. someone who lives in a place for some length of time

1 resident   

a.居住的，居留的；住校的，住院的

参考例句：

• I've been resident in this place for five years. 我已经在这个地方住了五年。
• They engaged a resident tutor. 他们聘用了一名住家的家庭教师。

2 residents   

n.居民( resident的名词复数 )；（旅馆的）住宿者

参考例句：

• Plans to build a new mall were deep-sixed after protests from local residents. 修建新室内购物中心的计划由于当地居民反对而搁浅。
• Local residents have reacted angrily to the news. 当地居民对这一消息表示愤怒。

3 donors   

n.捐赠者( donor的名词复数 )；献血者；捐血者；器官捐献者

参考例句：

• Please email us to be removed from our active list of blood donors. 假如你想把自己的名字从献血联系人名单中删去，请给我们发电子邮件。
• About half this amount comes from individual donors and bequests. 这笔钱大约有一半来自个人捐赠及遗赠。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

5 donations   

n.捐赠( donation的名词复数 )；赠送；捐款；捐赠物

参考例句：

• The hospital receives a good deal of money in donations. 这家医院收到捐赠来的大笔款项。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The charity is completely reliant on public donations. 这一慈善团体完全依靠公众捐款。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

7 needy   

adj.贫穷的，贫困的，生活艰苦的

参考例句：

• Although he was poor,he was quite generous to his needy friends.他虽穷，但对贫苦的朋友很慷慨。
• They awarded scholarships to needy students.他们给贫苦学生颁发奖学金。

8 joint   

adj.联合的，共同的；n.关节，接合处；v.连接，贴合

参考例句：

• I had a bad fall,which put my shoulder out of joint.我重重地摔了一跤，肩膀脫臼了。
• We wrote a letter in joint names.我们联名写了封信。

9 tightly   

adv.紧紧地，坚固地，牢固地

参考例句：

• My child holds onto my hand tightly while we cross the street.横穿马路时，孩子紧拉着我的手不放。
• The crowd pressed together so tightly that we could hardly breathe.人群挤在一起，我们几乎喘不过气来。