Socks are needed for children and teens in homeless shelters, and the San Diego County Office of Education and California Coast Credit Union are working together to fill that need.
“Warm Their Soles” is a joint month-long campaign to collect new socks for local youth experiencing homelessness. The campaign is now at the halfway mark, and donations are still being sought.
Socks of all sizes are requested, but the greatest need is seen for older teens, according to the San Diego County Office of Education. Socks must be new and remain packaged.
California Coast Credit Union will match all sock donations up to $5,000. Donations can be dropped off at donation bins located at Cal Coast’s corporate office in Kearny Mesa and at branch locations throughout San Diego County, according to the SDCOE.
The campaign also includes an online component on Roonga.
Collection bins are also available at several SDCOE locations, including the main campus, 6401 Linda Vista Road, San Diego; Homeless Education Services office in Old Town, 2878 Old Town Ave., Suite 200; North County Regional Education Center, 255 Pico Ave., San Marcos; East County Regional Education Center, 924 E. Main St., El Cajon; and South County Regional Education Center, 800 National City Blvd., National City.
Nearly 23,000 students are experiencing homelessness in San Diego County, according to the SDCOE.
“By region, the highest number of children experiencing homelessness is in central San Diego County with 8,245, with 383 of them reported as unaccompanied. In East County, 2,012 children are experiencing homelessness, with 82 unaccompanied; in North County, 5,638 are experiencing homelessness, with 20 unaccompanied; and in South County, 5,571 are experiencing homelessness, with 20 unaccompanied. Leaders in SDCOE’s Homeless Education Services department stress that the numbers of unaccompanied youth are low because so many of these teens are unreported,” the SDCOE reports.
