EHS student collects silly socks for a purpose

By: 
Staff Writer Kate Wehlann

As temperatures drop, Eastern High School freshman Brianna Medlock kicks her sock drive into high gear. She said much of her sock donation campaign occurs in the cooler months.

There’s something about a cozy, new pair of socks, and you don’t know how comfortable they are until you don’t have any.

It’s a reality for many, especially the homeless population, and it becomes an increasingly concerning problem as the temperatures drop and the weather turns rainy and snowy. A fresh pair of socks can also help ward off skin conditions that come from the skin being unable to dry because it’s too cold to take off socks and shoes wet from rain or snow.

That was what spurred Eastern High School freshman Brianna Medlock to start gathering socks five years ago.

“My church works a lot with Exit 0, the homeless outreach group, and a lot of them need socks,” she said. “It’s an easy thing that’s essential and they’re small and cheap, so they’re easy to be able to give to people.”

Medlock’s mother, Brigette Medlock, said her daughter has gathered around 15,000 pairs of socks for all ages, donating them to Exit 0, but also cancer care facilities. Last year, they gathered about 4,000 pairs of socks, and while Brianna said she doesn’t have a specific goal this year, she’d like to beat last year’s numbers.

Brianna said every year, her organization, Brianna’s Silly Socks, finds partners in the community — businesses and organizations — willing to place a donation box in their building for the community to donate. She decorates and adds a flyer to the box before it’s placed.

Her sock-gathering enterprise focuses on the fall and winter months and patrons of some area businesses will soon see those donation boxes.

Brianna said, most of the time, she is able to deliver the donated socks personally, even if she doesn’t always get to meet the recipients.

“Sometimes, we won’t see the kids because of patient privacy, but we do Child Place, Noah’s Ark and Haven House in Jeffersonville — I just got the list for the Providence House in Georgetown,” said Brigette. “The Healing Place — she just contacted me again.”

Brigette said she can remember the day when fourth-grade Brianna came up with the idea to gather socks.

“She came home and she said, ‘Mom, I want to do something for people,’” she said. “We started talking about it. She just has a big heart and she always wants to help people.”

“It makes me feel like I’m able to make a difference,” said Brianna, “even if it’s not very big. I’m getting to help as much as I can.”

Currently, there are drop-off boxes at Spirit Explosion Cheer and Tumbling (on Maplewood Boulevard in Georgetown), Providence Nursing Home (on Charlestown Road in New Albany) throughout the month of November, Autumn Woods Health Campus (on Green Valley Road in New Albany), Brad Haynes’ Martial Arts Academy (in Clarksville, behind Greentree Mall) and, in Washington County, Silver Fox Cafe in Pekin.

Donations, both of socks and money to buy socks, can also be sent to PO Box 12, Borden, Indiana, 47106. You can contact Brianna through her organization’s Facebook page, “Brianna’s Silly Socks,” and follow her mission to help others.

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