Businessman’s socks drive gets a helpful leg up
Bookmark team volunteers time, energy to get homeless initiative to next level
Listening to a radio documentary one winter morning, David Ferguson learned that clean socks are a scarce commodity for the homeless, whose feet are often wet and who are at risk for ulcers and infections that can lead to nerve damage and other permanent problems. People donate coats and sweaters to homeless shelters but, as the chef-owner of Restaurant Gus in La Petite-Patrie learned from the Socks for the Homeless doc on CBC’s Sunday Edition in 2013, the need for new socks at shelters is great. And so he decided to organize a sock drive for the homeless. He reached out to five neighbourhood restaurants to join him and, for a week in November of 2014, anyone who brought in new socks received a glass of bubbly in return. He called the event Bas pour Bulles, or Socks for Bubbly. The goal was twofold: to collect socks and to raise awareness of the need homeless people have for them. White tube socks are best, Ferguson said: Doctors can easily see through them to the sores and ulcers and trench foot, a painful condition caused by prolonged exposure to damp and unsanitary conditions and to cold. The event was a huge success, with more than 5,000 pairs of socks collected. Some people donated full bags of socks. Many didn’t even ask for bubbly; they were just pleased to be helping. The 2015 and 2016 editions were even more successful; in 2017 Ferguson expanded the campaign to Toronto, where he recruited five establishments to add to the 10 in Montreal that year. Since its inception, Socks for Bubbly had managed to collect 40,000 pairs of socks for the Old Brewery Mission in Montreal and the Scott Mission in Toronto. Arguably, Ferguson had made an enormous contribution. But he’s a chef. “I’m in the kitchen all day,” he said. Organizing a sock drive? “It was very hard for me to work that into my day.” Enter Arjun Basu, senior vice-president for product at Bookmark, a content and communications company that publishes media for corporate clients. Bookmark publishes Air Canada’s enRoute magazine, for instance, and has good restaurant contacts. Basu and Ferguson have been friends for years and, to Basu, Gus is “a neighbourhood institution.” One evening he was there with a colleague from Bookmark’s London office, which has been involved since 1998 in StreetSmart, a national campaign in which participating restaurants raise money for the homeless. As Basu described Ferguson’s sock drive to his colleague, he recalled, he heard himself saying, “We’re going to help him this year.” And with the blessings of the CEO, 20 Bookmark staffers in Montreal and Toronto got to work. Volunteering their time, they have designed a Socks for Bubbly logo and built an interactive website, reached out to recruit restaurants and helped participating establishments with material to promote the initiative on Instagram and other social media. To further publicize the initiative, Bookmark brought in media agency Newad and printer Solisco as co-sponsors. “From a marketing point of view, it has a bit more oomph,” Basu said. “The whole thing seemed like a natural fit ... We are supporting Dave’s efforts.” Nineteen Montreal establishments are participating in the 2018 edition of Socks for Bubbly, which runs from Nov. 19 to 25, including Caffe Un Po’ Di Piu, Elena, Tavern on the Square, Tuck Shop. Vin Mon Lapin and, of course, Gus. In Toronto, 17 restaurants have signed on. “Dave has done all the hard work,” Basu said. “We’re just trying to grease the wheels.” Bookmark volunteers will pick up the socks from the restaurants and deliver them to the Old Brewery Mission in Montreal and the Scott Mission in Toronto. Socks may also be dropped off during business hours at the Bookmark offices in Montreal or Toronto — but no bubbly.