(VERNON, Connecticut) – Tommy Glinski, a freshman at Rockville High School, is in the midst of another “Socktober” campaign to collect socks for people who are experiencing homelessness.
Since his Socktober campaign began, more than 5,000 pairs of socks and as well as cash have been donated to aid Vernon’s Cornerstone shelter, which serves the area’s homeless population. Tommy is hoping this year’s effort is the biggest yet and helps shelters and clothing banks across greater Hartford. The effort runs until Nov. 15.
Tommy began collecting socks for Cornerstone in 2016, when he was a third grader at Northeast School in Vernon. He was looking for a way to help his community, learned about Socktober and contacted Bryan Flint at Cornerstone.
“I wanted to try to make a difference, to help people,” Tommy said. “And I learned that this really simple gesture, providing new socks for people, was a good way to help.”
Cornerstone operates a homeless shelter that serves Vernon and several other communities. It also has a clothing bank and a variety of other programs to help people.
“We went to Cornerstone to see what they needed,” Tommy said. “They said they were really low on socks.”
Tommy asked his teachers at Northeast School for their help. That first year people donated 200 pairs of socks.
When Tommy moved to Center Road School in Vernon for fourth grade, he asked his teachers if he could continue Socktober there. They loved the idea and more socks were collected for Cornerstone. Tommy has kept it going since. The campaign continued and expanded when Tommy moved onto to Vernon Center Middle School and asked Vernon Mayor Dan Champagne for help spreading the word about Socktober and to place collection boxes in town buildings. Tommy is now a student at Rockville High School.
“Tommy’s continuing commitment to help his community is inspiring and impressive,” Vernon Mayor Dan Champagne said. “He represents what makes Vernon a special place. We look out for each other and Tommy has taken that to a new level with his annual Socktober campaign to assist our neighbors at Cornerstone.”
Flint said the Cornerstone is usually able to help people with second-hand clothing that is donated to its clothing bank. “We have shirts and pants and jackets and shoes,” Flint said. “If you get those used, it really doesn’t matter.”
But socks and underwear are a different matter, he said. “Quite reasonably, no one wants used socks or underwear,” Flint said. “That’s why we try to provide folks with new socks and underwear.”
Flint said that Cornerstone does not just aid people who are experiencing homelessness. Sometimes people show up at Cornerstone’s door soaking wet because they have been out in the rain. People can come in, take a shower and get a set of clean, dry clothes, he said. And new socks and underwear. Flint asks that in addition to socks, people consider donating a package of underwear too.
Tommy said that all kinds of socks are needed – for men, women and children – and asks that people place their donations in collection boxes that have been placed at the Vernon Police Department, Vernon Town Hall, Rockville High School, Northeast School, Maple Street School and Vernon Center Middle School. There are also collection boxes at LuAnn’s Bakery and Earthlight Solar and Energy Solutions, both in Ellington.