MN hosts annual Socktoberfest drive, but with changes

Socks. Though they might be a small piece of clothing that many of us don’t even give a second of thought to, they play a trivial role in keeping us protected during cold weather.

With winter right around the corner, it’s time for the annual Socktoberfest drive that occurs at MN, as well as many other schools around the country.

“I think if you are able to donate, you should, because it’s something that those in need can benefit from,” senior and FCCLA member Parker Lundgren said.

Socktoberfest is an annual drive that collects new and gently used socks, which are then donated to the Lydia House and Open door mission to those in need of winter clothing.

“Some of us are very lucky that we have the ability to get these items without much thought and we might not have thought about what a privilege it is to have something like socks that seem really basic, but I think we should all take a moment to think about how even the simplest thing can help others in our community,” senior and FCCLA member Pranavi Athota said.

Last year, MN and many other organizations all over the country were not able to conduct a Socktoberfest drive due to COVID-19. In efforts to compensate for not being able to hold this event last year, FCCLA has made it a goal to collect as many socks as possible to provide for those who have not received any for the past two years.

“They had been doing it for a really long time, so it was something that I automatically knew that I was going to pick up and continue because it has been so successful,” Ford said. “So I think it’s just continuing that success and then also making it better and bigger is something that we are going to try and do.”

Considering the lack of donations from the prior year, any contribution made would considerably benefit the people who need them the most. As an incentive to encourage more students to donate, FCCLA created a competition to see which second hour would donate the pairs of socks, and the winning class would receive a treat.

“I think it was really successful, but I think it could have been more successful… Millard North is such an affluent area, and so I feel like we could definitely help out the areas that need more help,” Ford said.

Although FCCLA did not receive as many donations as they’d hoped, they understood that COVID-19 played a huge role in the lack of donations this year. The club also took it upon themselves to self reflect on how they can conduct more successful drives in future.

“[We should] talk about it earlier, maybe have posters up earlier… and really encouraging our FCCLA members to talk about it in their classes would probably be something we would think about doing next year,” said Ford.

This article originally appeared in The Hoofbeat.