What do you do when you need more socks? Why am I even asking, and why do I keep talking about socks? I promise there’s a point. Hold your answer to that first question, while I try to explain myself.
One of our core values at United Radio states that: “We have a responsibility to each other to create a better community.”
When you learn about this core value during your LDP journey, your cohort will have the opportunity to embark on a campaign to help improve your community. In Cohort #2 of the Leadership Development Program, we decided that the best way we could make a positive impact on our community would be to help those struggling with housing and financial insecurity. A recent survey* tells us that 65% of Americans report that they are living paycheck-to-paycheck. When living paycheck-to-paycheck, a single unpredicted life event can, potentially, upend your life completely. Unpredictability is, ironically, one of the only things in our lives that is entirely predictable.
The number of people experiencing homeless in the United States (653,104) is the highest it has been since reporting began in 2007.** 6 out of every 10 of the individuals in this number are staying in sheltered locations, while 40% (roughly 261,242 individuals!) are completely unsheltered.
According to the local Syracuse news source cnycentral.com, about 1400 children were considered homeless for the start of the 2023-24 school year.
In Utah, according to the National Alliance to End Homelessness, homelessness has been increasing year-over-year since COVID, and the same goes for the state of Georgia.
As it turns out, socks are the least donated item to most homeless shelters, and, consequently, the most highly requested by charitable organizations that center on
housing insecurity. Imagine how quickly your socks would wear out if you only had one or two pairs—if that—to work with and didn’t have the means to acquire more. This can cause enough problems when you spend most of your days walking—it’s even worse during cold winters.
And that’s how our sock drive was born! We would like to ask for your help in providing socks to the members of our communities who need them most.
In Peachtree City, our partner will be the Real Life Center, an organization sponsored by the Dogwood Church, who uses a four-point strategy to accomplish their mission of assisting people in need (Focus, Address, Develop, and Achieve). Last year, they distributed 695,225 pounds of food to families in need. (Wild!!) For our Peachtree folks, come to Lunch & Learn on Wednesday March 6, 2024, to learn more about this organization and the sock drive.
In Salt Lake, we are partnering with The Road Home, a wonderful organization with over one hundred years of experience helping the homeless! Last year, they assisted 3,491 people with employment and housing services. Rory Musselman will be speaking about this in his Lunch & Learn presentation about the state of SLC.
In Syracuse, we are partnering with an organization called We Rise Above The Streets, headed by Al-Amin Muhammad, an upstanding man who survived a period of homelessness himself. Al-Amin will be speaking at the following Lunch & Learn events in Syracuse to tell his story, raise awareness for his organization and give more information on our sock drive:
- Wednesday, March 6, 2024 – Automotive Division Start Times: 11:15am, 12pm, 12:45pm
- Wednesday, March 13, 2024 – Consumer Division Start Times: 11:45am, 1pm, 5:30pm
- Wednesday, March 20 – Communications Division Start Times: 11:30am, 12:30pm
Check Jake’s Place for more information about our partner organizations in the coming days! Our sock drive will be held during the month of March 2024 from 3/1-3/31. Bins will be placed in all UR buildings where you can bring any socks you would like to donate.
NOTE: Used socks will NOT be accepted as donations. Please donate only new and unworn socks. In addition to direct donations of socks, we will be doing raffles.
Everyone’s favorite, and for good reason! Prizes will vary by location, but may include high end headphones, gift cards, as well as handmade wooden flags by our very own talented woodworker, Joe Ucher! Prices for raffle tickets will be:
- $1 for 1 ticket
- $5 for 7 tickets
- $20 for 30 tickets
Any employee who donates pairs of socks will have the opportunity to get bonus tickets in the fundraising raffles!
If you have any questions about how the sock drive or raffles will work, there are contacts in each building you can reach out to your division building representative.
Alternatively, if you’d like to donate money directly to our partner organizations, scan the QR codes below to send to their PayPal accounts, or see their Venmo accounts. If you do, please add “LDP” in the notes section.
We appreciate any amount you can give to help us make our community a warmer and safer place! And the most vulnerable members of the communities around our various UR locations will surely be even more grateful. Pick up a few socks and experience the dopamine rush of helping someone in need! (Seriously…it’s a really good feeling – science says so.)
The artice was written by United Radio employee Derek Bowers
