This is a collaborative program with the community and the American Legion to collect socks for men and women; socks collected are distributed on Christmas morning to patients at the Long Beach Veterans Administration Hospital.
The purpose of the program is there is a need for socks at the VA hospital. It's something practical that is lacking but it also provides warmth and comfort. The American Legion delivers on Christmas to be sure that the veterans who are bed ridden in the hospital, and don't usually get visitors, have a holiday visitor and a small gift they can use. They only take White tube socks for men and ankle socks for women in white only. Ask your local American Legion and VA hospital what sock donations will serve your veterans best (some may ask for diabetic or wool socks, for instance).
In our public library we also teamed up with our community Veterans Resource Center which is located in the same building. If a library doesn't have a VRC in their library they would want to partner up with a group who actually takes the socks to the hospital. For example, our volunteers from the VRC, the American Legion, and the Lions Club are just a few groups. We decorated a box big enough to collect socks and we made fliers and posters and put them around the library and on social media to promote the program.
This particular program is for patients at the VA hospital, but it could be expanded to homeless veterans or other community members. We do often have socks we can't take to the hospital due to color or style and we often donate them to a local goodwill or Salvation Army.
The cost is minimal. The main budget would be for flyers and promotion of the drive.
Plan for Christmas delivery and the best time to start collecting would be around the end of November (which is National Veterans and Military Families Month). You will want to coordinate sock pick up and delivery details with your local American Legion and VA hospital. However, for reference, our American Legion periodically sends a volunteer to pick up the socks and they deliver them on Christmas morning to the VA hospital.
One month.
Partner with a group like the American Legion, Lions Club, etc. who already has an existing program or the connections to the Veterans Administration Hospital.
Begin the drive at least one month prior to Christmas day. Find a partner with established ties to Veterans Administration Hospital for a partnership to execute the program. Find a way to show gratitude for community participation by displaying photos of volunteers picking up socks, and/or an updated count of how many socks have been donated during the month.
American Legion
Rachel Fiore, Whittier Public Library Whittier, CA
This project was made possible in part by the Institute of Museum and Library Services (LG-12-19-0114).
The Institute of Museum and Library Services is the primary source of federal support for the nation's libraries and museums. We advance, support, and empower America’s museums, libraries, and related organizations through grantmaking, research, and policy development. Our vision is a nation where museums and libraries work together to transform the lives of individuals and communities. To learn more, visit www.imls.gov and follow us on Facebook and Twitter.