Sophia Casini began her annual sock drive when she was only 4 years old after being inspired by the sock drive hosted by her school in Milton, Massachusetts. Now, this 6th grader is continuing her sock drive, having donated 13,565 pairs of socks since 2015!
Category: Giving Back
Human Of the Month: Phoebe O’Meara
Detroit native Phoebe O’Meara moved to Portland after attaining a degree in social work from Saint Louis University, and she’s been working for Rose Haven to help create a healing space for women, children, and gender nonconforming people in the community. As the manager of the Rose Haven Advocacy Program, Phoebe helps to provide emotional support, resource information, and financial assistance to individuals seeking shelter and guidance while coping with the after-effects of abuse, home loss, and other health and life challenges.
Building Community at Sock It to Me: Matt Katz
If there’s a pillar of Sock It to Me that gets the most passionate engagement from our internal employees, it would certainly be our desire to Create a Community of Belonging. We truly believe that our small-business’ success relies upon our connectedness to those around us, and our desire to create a better, more inclusive world by allowing everyone the opportunity for self-expression.
Human of the Month: Christine Kidwell
Christine helps Transition Projects by working in the Clothing Room, sorting and organizing the donations. Cart by cart, hanger by hanger, she looks to see which donations will be offered for their participants, stored, or repurposed to another agency. “Often I am running back and forth to get just the right thing. Sometimes I will engage with a person who just needs to tell their story or their worries,” she says.
Human of the Month: Kara Frazier
Fighting Pretty is an organization that seeks to comfort, encourage, and inspire women struggling and surviving with cancer. The movement was established by Kara Frazier, following her own struggle with stage 3 breast cancer, and it has grown to become a 501 c(3) non-profit organization that has reached over ten thousand women fighting all types of cancer across the globe.