Hannah's Socks News

Photos from the Sander family visit

webeditor — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 18:02:48 -0400

We've posted a couple photos from the Sander's family visit from Loda, Illinois; click here to view the set. In the photo below, Diane Sander and Hannah visit with a couple who are clients at Cherry Street Mission and received some of the socks the Sanders donated.

Letter from our friends in Illinois

keith — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 18:48:53 -0400

We received a very nice letter from the folks who visited the Hannah's Socks office after a long drive from Illinois:

"My name is Dianne Sander, the wife and mother of the Sander family, and I would like to take a moment to share with you our story about a recent adventure donating socks to Hannah's Socks.

"I have been a Guidepost reader for numerous years, and though many stories have touched our hearts, we recently read an article about Hannah's Socks which was featured in the February 2008 issue of the magazine. I thought to myself, how awesome that a young girl (Hannah) could have such a caring heart for others, and if she, and her family could make such a difference in the world, why can't I?

"When I read that they resided in the Toledo area, I became even more excited since we had a trip scheduled to visit our cousin Chris and his wife, who live in Toledo. I confronted my husband Les and shared with him my vision of collecting socks in our community for Hannah's socks and delivering them. Les suggested that we just make arrangements to send them UPS, which of course was out of the question in my opinion. My goal was to collect 500 pairs of socks. Les challenged me to a goal of 1000 pairs of socks, and if I accomplished that goal, he would give me a night out on the town. We collected 1025 pairs of socks in one months' time. Needless to say I won the bet!!!

"My cousin accompanied us and we delivered the socks to Hannah & Family. We had a tour of the Cherry Street Mission and were very impressed. All of us passed out socks to the people at the Cherry Street Mission. It was the most amazing experience that our family has ever encountered. The people had looks of gratitude and thankfulness that words cannot express. It just shows you that at any age you can make a difference to help others in this world. Experience the gift of giving by donating socks to Hannah. You can make such a big difference in peoples' lives with a very small amount of money.

God Bless,
Les, Dianne, and Lester Sander
Loda, Illinois"

Thank you, Sander Family!

The office of Jeffrey P. Ogg, CPA, is collecting socks

doris — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 20:07:18 -0400

We love it when businesses around Toledo put up a Socks Box to help the homeless. If you are around Secor Rd. in Toledo, stop in at Jeff Ogg's Tax and Accounting Services and drop a pair of socks in the Hannah's Socks Box! We are committed to helping children get a great start when school begins in August! Jeff and his wife Deby will make sure that the socks get to the Hannah's Socks office for you. We are in need of kids socks from 1st grade to 8th. When you're at the store, care, share, give a pair! You can find Jeff at www.oggcpa.com.

What you may not know about Cherry Street Mission

doris — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 16:24:17 -0400

After touring the facilities last week I have a deeper understanding about what they do. They offer a program called Ready For Life to help their guests become independent. This program addresses the personal needs of their guest (I love that they call them guests) by developing an individualized care program to help transform their lives from homeless to independence. Cherry Street has a success rate of 74%.

I had the pleasure of meeting one of the men who is soon to graduate from the program! Their Monroe Street Facility and Sparrow's Nest provide shelter and and life-changing programs to men and women. The mission is open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year and feeds about 700 meals a day to men, women and children. They are the only shelter in Northwest Ohio and Southeast Michigan that serves 3 meals a day, 7 days a week! Since they are privately funded they need all of our help.

Here are some statistics that I found amazing: From Cherry Street's annual report for 2007: On any given night an average of 163 men stay at Cherry Street. In 2007, donations helped provide 47,004 nights of shelter to men who were looking for a place to sleep and in many cases to heal. Also in 2007, your gifts helped the Sparrow's Nest provide 13,992 nights of shelter for an average of 40 homeless women a night, as well as an opportunity for a changed life!

The Ready For Life Program in 2007 helped 76 men and 55 women begin to find their way back from homelessness to independence. Your generosity made a difference in their lives, their families' lives and in the greater community. Cherry Street Mission also served a total of 225,541 meals prepared and served by loving volunteers. Free health care is available also!

Here is another incredible number: In 2007, a total of 297,249 pounds of clothing were donated! Many families received furniture and household items too! If you are wondering where the support goes it is reported that 68% goes to program services, 23% goes into development and only 9% is administrative. Who supports Cherry Street Mission? Well 74% is from individuals like me and you! I know that Dan and the staff appreciates everyone for making life a little better for our neighbors in need. I hate to think where our homeless neighbors would be without The Cherry Street Mission.

They came from Loda, Illinois

doris — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 15:46:28 -0400

Many, many pairs of socks arrive in the Hannah's Socks office from all over the world. Most have nice letters with them. The letters give us a connection to the person sending the socks. I've always said that I would love to meet each person that has been involved in a sock collection. I got my wish last Thursday.

Les, Diane and their son Lester Sander drove from Loda, Illinois to Perrysburg, Ohio to bring 1,025 pairs of socks to help our homeless. Les had contacted me a few months ago by email and told me that they were going to do their part to help Hannah's Socks. He and his wife Diane had a bet going on to see how many socks they could collect. Diane set her sights high and she won the bet! Many people in their community got involved in the sock collection to help her get over 1000 pairs.

Thursday morning we got to meet the Sander family and their cousin Chris who is from Toledo. We talked, took pictures and then headed over to The Cherry Street Mission to take a tour and hand out socks to the homeless. If you've never toured Cherry Street, I suggest that you do. Avis and Yolanda and Rosalyn planned a very informative tour. All of us learned a lot that day. We even met a man who was soon to graduate from the Ready For Life program that Cherry Street offers. They do so much at Cherry Street that I want to share with everyone, but that will have to be another blog.

We appreciate the Sander family and everyone from their community that helped out! The socks got passed out that afternoon and as we all saw on the faces of the homeless they were very happy to receive new socks for their feet.

St. Luke's Lutheran's VBS Mission Project

doris — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 12:25:54 -0400

Our good friends at St. Luke's in Temperance Michigan contacted Hannah's Socks to tell us that they wanted us to be part of their VBS. Kim asked if Hannah could come and share her story of the homeless man she felt compassion for on that cold Thanksgiving day in 2004. Vic and Hannah had a great time meeting over 100 VBS kids and the staff! Kim reports that the VBS kids and the St. Luke's congregational family collected over 140 packages of underwear for boys and girls! Hannah said, "Wow, the kids will love getting these." We are so thankful to all of our friends at St. Luke's. Please check out their VBS slideshow at www.stlukeschurch.net.

Miles of socks collected

doris — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 11:49:26 -0400

Walnut Grove United Methodist Church is located between Dunkirk and Kenton Ohio. Three bags traveled this morning to the Hannah's Socks office via car. Nancy Musselman, who is the director of their Jr. church, dropped off the socks on her way to Michigan. Nancy had read about Hannah's Socks in Guidepost and thought her Jr. church would help.

The entire church participated! Nancy said that Toledo is 70-75 miles North of her church so they had fun figuring out the feet and then miles of socks they had collected. All in all Walnut Grove UMC collected 283 pairs of new socks! Nancy also shared that they are in the process of beginning a food pantry in conjunction with neighboring churches. "I believe that God has directed us to do more outreach in our community. Maybe the collection of socks started it," she said. Many thanks go out to Pastor Jeff Waite, Nancy and the entire congregation! We wish you many blessings as you go forth with your food pantry plans.

Hannah's Socks partners with Salvation Army's "Tools For School" program

keith — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 17:05:14 -0400

The Hannah's Socks team is excited to announce a new partnership with the Salvation Army, in support of their "Tools For School" program, which is a school supply collection that will benefit Toledo-area students in grades 1 through 8. Last year, more than 1,500 low-income children were served, and the goal is to reach that number again this year.

And we need your help! Hannah's Socks has committed to donating thousands of children's socks and undergarments to this worthy cause. We want the kids participating in this program to not only arrive for their first day of school with new supplies — we want them to be wearing brand new clothing essentials as well.

Only with your help can we meet our goal and make a difference in the lives of children in our community. It is critical that every child in Northwest Ohio start the school year right with everything that they need. It is anticipated that the supplies will be distributed to the children the week of August 18, so we need to move quickly.

If you would like to donate socks or hold a Sock Drive at your workplace or church in support of this great cause, please click here to contact us as soon as possible. Additionally, if you would like to make a financial donation, we're happy to purchase the items for you.

You also can learn more by phoning the Salvation Army at 419-241-1138.

Please help us make "Tools For School" an even greater success for 2008!