Socks 4 Souls Delivers Warmth, Dignity, and Hope

The Community Foundation for Kingston & Area recently helped Socks 4 Souls Canada expand their mission of bringing warmth and dignity to those experiencing homelessness in Kingston. With a grant from the Foundation, Socks 4 Souls, a grassroots charity now in its tenth year, has been able to deliver thousands of pairs of socks to local shelters, meeting urgent needs as cold weather approaches.

“We'll probably hit one million socks distributed this year,” said Steve White, Development Manager of Socks 4 Souls Canada. “What’s taken us nine years, we’ll soon be doing almost yearly. It's a happy-sad number, it's amazing to reach so many, but the need keeps growing every year.” He describes the impact as direct and vital: “When you look at foot health, and what really inspired our founders, (who are emergency room doctors) was just seeing how much effort and cost went into treating illnesses easily preventable with something as simple as new, clean socks. It’s about health and it’s about dignity.”

Kingston's shelters benefit from a streamlined system developed by Socks 4 Souls, which allows partners to request socks online and receive them quickly, all at no cost to local organizations. “Anything that goes to a shelter is free to them,” White said. “We fundraise everything, so shelters can count on a steady stream of reliable socks, and that's what has really escalated the response here.”

White also emphasized the local focus of support made possible by the Foundation’s grant. “Kingston is going to likely need around 20,000 pairs of socks over the next year. We try to get most of that from the Foundation, so all those funds remain local. It’s important to show the impact, then come back next year and say, ‘This is what we’ve done.’”

With a passionate volunteer board and a proven model focused on cost-effectiveness, Socks 4 Souls Canada continues to make substantial strides—one pair at a time—in supporting Kingston’s most vulnerable residents.