BENNINGTON, Vt. (WCAX) – The change in the weather also marks the start of Socktober, a nationwide drive that gives out new pairs of socks and other winter clothing to people in need.
“It helps keep her alive, but it also gives me something positive to focus on. And in that way, it also kind of keeps her alive and her memory alive,” said Kelly Carroll, whose daughter, Emily, was murdered in Bennington in 2021.
Carroll wants her daughter’s legacy to live on, and with the help of her company — Compass Group — joined “Socktober, the annual drive has helped unhoused people nationwide for over a decade, handing out 190,000 pairs of new socks last year alone.
“I’m extremely proud of the fact that a town like Bennington, Vermont, had one percent of that nationwide — that’s huge for a little town like us,” Carroll said.
The Bennington Police Department is home to a primary drop-off location. Their involvement in the drive has increased in the past few years. “The way for the police to show that we’re involved in the community, we want to give back to the community. Our members here participate, they take some of their own money and they go out and purchase these types of items,” said Bennington Police Lt. Camillo Grande.
It comes as hundreds of homeless Vermonters hunker down for the winter after new rules for the state’s emergency housing program left many with no place to go.
“We get little donations all the time but we know when Socktober rolls around that everybody’s feet are gonna be warm… and their hands,” said
Roxanne Carelli, with the Bennington County Coalition for the Homeless, which runs a shelter in town and is one of several organizations set to receive a portion of the donated items. “They come in end of the summer, fall, you know, they aren’t able to carry around everything that they need. So, having socks and gloves especially, you know, anything for the winter. The Northeast winters are really difficult.”
Carroll says she hopes the annual event catches on and expands across the state. “It’s really been something that all of Bennington County has taken on, and I would challenge some of the other communities to do it next year and see if they can match us,” she said.
The drop box is available in the lobby of the Bennington Police Department at 118 South Street the rest of October.