Pierceton Elementary Celebrates Socktober With Fundraiser
PIERCETON — The month of October represents a time of fun, games, and traditional Halloween celebrations, and at Pierceton Elementary School, students are adding one more element of excitement. They call it Socktober.
Students from PES fourth-grade classrooms initially decided to participate in Socktober after watching a video by the renowned Kid President on Youtube.
“We had Tracey Barr speak to us from Shepherd’s House in Fort Wayne,” said instructor Ann Clark. “She told us that there was a need to build more facilities for the women who serve our country. We also watched a Kid President video about Socktober. We put them together, and committed to raise money for The Shepherd’s House.”
As is the namesake of Socktober, the students are raising funds and donating men’s socks for the homeless veterans of The Shepherd’s House in Fort Wayne. Jasmine Baum’s class is responsible for collecting the socks while Clark’s class will be in charge of donations.
To make it all happen, the students are taking to the streets, literally. They will canvas their neighborhood in Pierceton by working with area businesses who will host donation canisters. The canisters have been decorated by the students and each canister, according to the student’s research, is capable of raising $40 to $60 over the course of a month. However, they will only be participating in the fundraiser for three weeks. They have set a goal as a class to raise $500.
Along with 24 canisters placed around the Pierceton community, students are also encouraging their classmates to bring in money and socks as a part of Socktober. As a special assignment, three students have been working on creating the press and media releases to help advertise for the fundraiser. Crew Ebbinghouse, Reagan Klepinger and one student who requested to remain anonymous have been working behind the scenes.
Ebbinghouse said he felt that as a group, they had “a lot of work done and that we are putting a lot of effort into this project.”
“I feel good about Socktober because we get to donate money to the homeless veterans around Indiana,” said Willow Osborn. Fellow classmate Julia Elder said “I am happy to do Socktober, but it is sad to see the homeless people who are in need.”
Principal Mike McClain was in full support of the event, saying, “I think it’s an awesome thing when caring kids and their caring community can come together to help out heroes who are now in need.” The schoolwide effort will conclude Oct. 31. Patrons at local establishments can begin donating as soon as Oct. 11. The students will take a field trip during the school day to personally deliver each canister for collections.