Mandy Newgard’s grade two class at Knoles Elementary School is holding some of the 2,100 pairs of new socks the school’s students collected as part of the annual Socktober Sock Drive. The socks will be donated to Hope Cottage, The Sunshine Rescue Mission and The Fourth World Foundation.
Presley Alvite, 6, holds up two packs of girls’ socks as she stands with her classmates in the music room at Knoles Primary School. Students at the school collected 2,100 pairs of new socks during an annual Socktober sock drive. The socks will be donated to the Sunshine Rescue Mission, Hope Cottage and the Fourth World Foundation.
Jaxen Greco, 7, holds up a pair of socks like bunny ears as he stands with his classmates in the music room at Knoles Primary School. Students at the school collected 2,100 pairs of new socks during an annual Socktober sock drive. The socks will be donated to the Sunshine Rescue Mission, Hope Cottage and the Fourth World Foundation.
ABIGAIL KESSLER Journalist of the Sun
Throughout October, Knoles Elementary ran its annual sock donation campaign to benefit local organizations. This year’s Socktober, as it’s called, was the biggest to date, with the school community donating more than 2,000 pairs of socks.
Socktober in Knoles started out as a two-class collaborative project, inspired by the Kid President YouTube channel, said second-grade teacher Mandy Newgard, who helped start the project. It has since spread to the whole school.
Newgard said the project has continued to grow over its six years.
“We were just thrilled to have a few hundred pairs and that was about it, the first time; we had no idea. But we had a target and we have exceeded our target every year, ”she said.
Families in Knoles have donated a total of 2,098 pairs of socks this year to people in need of all ages and genders. The initial target for the year was 1,200 pairs. Last year, the school hosted a driving version of the event, collecting around 600 pairs. The previous year, the highest, had just over 1,000 pairs given.
Music teacher Joe Rauschenbach said 2021 was a “banner year” for fundraising.
“It has practically doubled in the event of a pandemic,” he said. “It’s pretty amazing.”
The socks are donated to Sunshine Rescue Mission and Hope Cottage as well as the Fourth World Foundation in Flagstaff.
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