When visiting Downtown Portland, the city’s homelessness problem is evident around every corner.
Two students are hoping to help the homeless population by donating something overlooked and underappreciated by most: Socks.
Juniors Anthony Gutierrez, a member of the Pre-Medicine Students Association, and ASUP Vice President Tsikata Apenyo reached out to a group from the University of Nebraska Lincoln, where he had interned in the medical center during the summer after his freshman year, who founded the “Put A Sock In It” program.
Apenyo got the idea to bring the fundraiser here after observing the homeless problem downtown firsthand. On the City of Portland website, it states that in 2015, “on one particular night, 3,800 people slept on the streets, in shelter and in temporary housing.”
“It makes you want to do something,” Apenyo says. “The mission of the organization is to make something that everyone can be a part of.”
The sock drive began during the first week of February and will last for three weeks. You can find collection boxes all around campus, in the laundry rooms of each dorm and in academic buildings. They are in the Franz Hall, Moreau Center lobby and in St. Mary’s Lounge outside the Student Activities office. They will accept any kind of sock — used, worn, dirty, paired, single — the only thing Apenyo and Gutierrez require is socks without rips, tears or holes.
After the collection is over, the group will wash all the socks and send them to St. Andre Bessette church in Downtown Portland to be distributed among homeless shelters.
The group is looking for volunteers, if you are interested, contact them at apenyo18@up.edu or guitieran19@up.edu.
