2Day FM’s fourth annual Sock Drive finished up on February 5th, with a record-setting 3,010 pairs donated directly to Wapiti House in Grande Prairie.
Kathy Lambert with the Wapiti Community Support Association says the donation was a welcome one as the shelter continuously faces a need for warm socks.
“We were totally low on all our supplies, as we know, there’s been frigid temperatures, so we are encouraging people to donate, the socks are a staple here at the shelter,” she says. “A lot of people don’t have footwear, proper winter footwear, so their socks get more wet and they go through socks a lot more.”
Given Grande Prairie’s notoriously freezing winters, Lambert says socks mean much more than warm feet to the shelter’s residents.
“They can be gloves too, on a really cold day, if we don’t have any gloves, we will often hand out the socks to keep their hands warm, with hand warmers also,” she says.
Lambert adds that the shelter is “always” in need of warming products, so the door is never closed when it comes to further donations.
“We’re always in need of gloves, socks, that’s never something that goes in a storage room and stays there, it’s given out daily.”
Donations are always accepted at Wapiti House, and officials say socks, toiletries, towels, bedsheets, and hygiene products are among the most needed items.
