University Taking Donations During Family Weekend Activities Sept. 11-13 on Campus
BOILING SPRINGS, N.C.--When Gardner-Webb University students traveled to New York City last fall for a service trip, they took hundreds of pairs of clean new socks with them. The clothing items, collected during Family Weekend activities at Gardner-Webb, were gifts for some of the many homeless people who visited a city soup kitchen where the GWU group volunteered.
In all, more than 2,300 pairs of socks were collected in last year's donation drive, and many of them found the feet of people served by homeless ministries in local communities near Gardner-Webb. The initiative was so successful that the University will again collect new men's and women's socks during Family Weekend activities Sept. 11-13.
Donations may be dropped off in the entry lobby of the Tucker Student Center on those dates. They can also be delivered to the Henderson Gate at Spangler Stadium during GWU's home football game versus Elon University on Saturday, Sept. 12, at 6 p.m.
"These socks will primarily go to local homeless ministries in Cleveland and Cherokee counties," shared Micah Martin, director of student leadership development and community engagement at Gardner-Webb. "There are two things that homeless ministries ask for the most that they don't seem to have, and that's clean underwear and socks."
Some of the Gardner-Webb students who helped organize the sock drive last year were among many on campus who stuffed the socks with toiletry items for the homeless, Martin said. Several of those students also participated in the trip to New York, where the clothing items were distributed. Gardner-Webb will take students on a fall break service trip for a second straight year this October as a group travels to Chicago.
"It was neat last year for students to meet the people who walked off with those socks," Martin reflected. "There are 2,300 warm pairs of feet now that those socks are out there. Those donations aren't something getting stuffed in a drawer. Someone is wearing each pair, and probably wearing them out."
For more information on the Family Weekend Sock Drive and other service opportunities at Gardner-Webb, email serve@gardner-webb.edu.
Located in Boiling Springs, N.C., Gardner-Webb University's purpose is to advance the Kingdom of God through Christian higher education by preparing graduates for professional and personal success, instilling in them a deep commitment to service and leadership, and equipping them for well-rounded lives of lasting impact, Pro Deo et Humanitate (For God and Humanity).