Eugene Field celebrates 1576 socks

Eight bags of new socks were transported out of Eugene Field Elementary School yesterday afternoon. The bags contained roughly 1,576 pairs of socks.

The socks were collected as part of an effort to teach students about the importance of giving back to the community and those who have less.

All of the socks collected are going to the John J. Pershing VA Medical Center to be given to homeless veterans in the area.

The students of each class were challenged to bring in 60 pairs of socks for the school to reach its ultimate goal of 1,000.

Collectively, the first grade students collected 610 pairs; the second grade 456 pairs; and third grade 510 pairs.

In celebration of reaching the schoolwide goal, all of the students were invited to a sock hop Thursday afternoon, where they got to visit with Santa and Mrs. Claus.

Also in attendance was Dale Garrett, director of VA volunteer services.

“We have a significant population of homeless veterans,” he told the students. “These right here will go to our homeless veteran program. This is definitely going to help them out.”