High school seniors create sock toss to help homeless
Lauren George, a Stockdale High senior, hasn’t been shy about speaking to the media and getting the word out about her Ford Dream Builders Leadership program team’s efforts to help the homeless.
When a television station asked for someone to speak Thursday morning among the eight high school seniors on the team, George jumped at the chance.
George, the Stockdale marching band’s drum major for the past two years, is accustomed to being out front and leading the way.
In this case, she wanted Team SOKCS (Socks on Kern County Soles) to do all it can to help the homeless in Bakersfield by donating socks and bringing awareness to the Open Door Network, which includes the Bakersfield Homeless Center and the Alliance Against Family Violence and Sexual Assault.
“The reason we wanted to donate socks is because we know there is a homelessness problem,” said George, who is president of the Spanish Honor Society at Stockdale. “Eight high school seniors can’t solve that problem so we decided to tackle a smaller chunk of that problem. Socks make you feel warmer. It makes you feel more comfortable when you have socks on your feet.”
Team SOKCS have had a sock toss competition during halftime at basketball games at six high schools, gaining large donations at Garces Memorial (more than 700 pairs of socks) and Stockdale (nearly 600 pairs).
The team’s project ended Thursday night at the Icardo Center during halftime of the Cal State men’s basketball team’s game against Cal State Northridge.
At CSUB an estimated 500 pairs of socks were expected to be donated to the homeless to boost the overall project total to roughly 3,000 pairs of socks, George said.
At most of the games, Team SOKCS handed out socks for fans to participate in the sock-toss competition and the project team members asked for cash donations. As part of the sock toss, fans attempt to throw the socks into a laundry basket. The winner is awarded a gift-card package of up to $65.
At Garces and Stockdale, students were highly motivated to donate newly bought pairs of socks that they purchased in return for extra credit at school, George said.
At CSUB, it was difficult to top what the Roadrunners basketball team accomplished in the first half with a 43-24 lead and a double-digit advantage that resulted in a free McDouble at McDonald’s for each fan. However, Team SOKCS finished its project on a high note.
With Mayor Karen Goh getting the crowd in the mood at halftime and explaining the charity efforts, the fans threw pairs of socks toward center court trying to make it in the laundry basket. Garces sophomore Carson Sorci was the only one to make it in. He’s the younger brother of Garces senior Aidan Sorci, who is on Team SOKCS.
“It was hilarious,” Aidan said of his younger brother winning the gift-card package. “I lit up. It was great that he won. The pictures are going to be great.”
The Ford Dream Builders Leadership program, run by the Jim Burke Education Foundation, is an organization that selects Kern County high school seniors and allows them an opportunity to develop community service projects.
Team SOKCS had a budget of $2,000, George said, and the group used some of the money to purchase gift cards for prizes and several pairs of socks.
“The biggest thing for them is their creativity and their ingenuity,” said Luigi Soper, the team’s adviser who works in the real estate and home construction business in Bakersfield. “They were able to get their high school peers to come out and support them, create a competition and really turn it into a great event.”
Soper, a Garces graduate, was part of the Ford Dream Builders Leadership program when he was in high school and he said it was important to give back as an adviser.