Achyuta Ambal

Senior Ashleigh Morelli holds a box filled with socks the German club collected through their Socktoberfest event. “If I was in that situation, I would want someone to help me. I don’t think it is fair that people turn their shoulders and shun them for not being able to provide for themselves,” Morelli said.

After watching a Kid President video several years ago, German teacher Christie Staszcuk learned about socks being needed by the homeless. Staszcuk challenged the German club at West to a healthy competition amongst schools after working for years at Parkway Central.

During the month of October, the German club hosted Socktoberfest, a drive to collect socks throughout the building for St. Patrick Center. Senior and German club President Ashleigh Morelli decided to extend the challenge to the West community and feeder schools.

“I thought it was pretty successful for its first year. We collected about 400 to 450 socks which is actually quite a bit,” Morelli said. “I was expecting a turnout of 100 to 200 pairs. With Central, combined, we’ve made over 1000 donations.” 

 Although West lost the challenge to Parkway Central, Morelli believes the donations to St. Patrick Center are the reward.

“The community shows an increased need for help [with warm clothes] during the holiday season due to the weather getting colder, and we really made a difference,” Morelli said. “It was really surprising to see the boxes of socks come in because I didn’t expect nearly as many socks as they donated. I was really moved by how much [the community] banded together to help us make a difference.”