Growing up, kids unwrapping gifts Christmas morning often take the fresh pack of socks they’ve received for granted. However, for others, those socks can make a world of a difference, said Roché Vermaak, executive director of Family Promise of Santa Clarita Valley.
That’s why, come Dec. 14, when Family Promise holds their annual Holiday Shopping Event, they’ll be handing out hundreds of pairs of socks to kids and their families.
“With Thanksgiving and Christmas time, we live with the idea of abundance, but in our valley there is scarcity,” Vermaak said, adding that federal law prevents places like Goodwill and the Salvation Army from providing affordable used socks and underwear like they would other necessary clothing. “That’s just a need families have.”
That’s why for the last handful of years, schools around the Santa Clarita Valley have been working together, Vermaak says, to bring socks into Family Promise.
So far this year, six local Santa Clarita schools have donated socks to Family Promise, with the most recent being 345 pairs from Castaic Elementary School and 865 pairs of socks from Mountainview Elementary and Fenton STEM Academy in Sun Valley.
“It shows our parents that are struggling that they belong to a community and they’re not just another statistic,” said Vermaak. “We’ve had so many stories, ‘I have a job Im working but there wasn’t money for presents.’”
The socks along with other donations to Family Promise, such as basic hygiene products, toiletries, underwear, cleaning supplies, diapers and wipes, are then distributed to families during the Dec. 14 Holiday Shopping Event. Vermaak says in years past hundreds of families have come and every pair of socks donated will be given away.
During the event, families are invited to take what they need, have the goods wrapped, kids can take a picture with Santa Claus, and then the gifts are placed under the family Christmas tree to be opened on Christmas morning.
For more information about how to get involved and how to donate, visit http://www.familypromisescv.org/.
