This fall, groups of students from three different APS schools participated in a sock collection project for Project Rise. This special project, called “Socktober” began in October of 2014 at Sam Salem Elementary School. The Project was started by Megan Kalil and her students in the N.O.W. Program (No Opportunity Wasted). This year, socks were collected at Sam Salem CLC, Rimer CLC and Litchfield CLC.

The socks collected by the students and were given to Project Rise. Project Rise is a federally funded program through Ohio Department of Education. This program is a collaborative effort by Akron Public Schools, local shelters and the Akron community to provide supplemental educational services to children and youth experiencing homelessness. Project Rise gave out most of the socks at their annual Harvest Dinner on November 16th.  The rest of the socks were distributed to families living in homeless shelters or transitional housing programs.

At Sam Salem CLC, students in Mr. Edward Savoy’s 5th grade class also coordinated the “Socktober” collection effort and school contest. The Sam Salem N.O.W. Program students were able to collect 947 pairs of socks and the group plans to do the project again next year.

This winter, Amanda Smith from Project Rise was able to meet the N.O.W. Program students at Sam Salem CLC and collect the socks. She shared some background information on the Project Rise program and the students they serve. They were also able to answer the students’ questions about Project Rise and take some photographs. The students were excited to talk to the Project Rise representatives about the “Socktober” Project and gave some interesting insights into how they felt about their work on collecting and donating.

One of Mr. Edward Savoy’s 5th grade class students, Lauren, was the classroom leader during the Socktober Project. Lauren was the designated announcer that helped keep the school engaged and on track. When asked about her favorite part about collecting, she excitedly stated, “I just loved being able to help anyone who needed socks!”

Another student, Zachary, made this wonderfully sweet statement, “When we started collecting I never thought about people who didn’t have socks, I have so many just on my floor! I really liked giving socks to people who needed them!”

This year, Mrs. Blackburn's class of first graders at Sam Salem CLC won the pizza party for collecting 178 pairs of socks!

More recently, students from Litchfield Middle School also collected socks for Project Rise. The efforts were coordinated by Litchfield teacher, Sandra Cline. These socks are being given out at the DLM Food & Resource Room, a Food Pantry and Resource Room for Project Rise families at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church.

Project Rise would like to sincerely thank all of the teachers, students and community members who donated socks. New socks are something clients in their program can always use and are happy to receive.

During the 2016-2017 school year, Project Rise identified and served over 1,850 students experiencing homelessness. For more information on Project Rise and how you can help, please contact Rachel at 330-761-2969 or at [email protected].