PHOTO BY OWEN O’ROURKE
Students from the Sacred Heart School in Lynn collect socks for the Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program. From left, Daniel Reddick; Colleen Eagan, foundation relations manager at the Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program; Dariana Noyola and Titamah Simpson. Students in red, Darius Paone, Anthony Rovaldi, Donovan Kim and Avery Brown.
BY BRIDGET TURCOTTE
LYNN — Students at the Sacred Heart Elementary School collected more than 1,100 pairs of socks for the homeless.
They were donated to the Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program, a Boston-based organization that provides healthcare to the homeless.
Colleen Eagan, foundation relations manager, said the program serves more than 12,000 people annually and socks are at the top of the list of necessities.
“It seems like such a simple thing but it ends up being so dire,” Eagan said. “As soon as we bring them in, they’ll immediately go out to the shelters.”
The program often sees clients with foot infections, including trench foot, she said. Sometimes clients have been wearing the same pair of socks for so long that the material becomes embedded in the skin and must be surgically separated, she said.
“When caring for people, we have to go beyond basic health care,” Eagan said. “Giving away socks is one of the things that help our clinics build relationships with people.”
Eagan first visited Sacred Heart to give a presentation about homelessness and the impact they could have by collecting the socks. The student council took on the project, collecting socks from students each morning and providing the school with a weekly progress update.
“Watching the videos Colleen showed and listening to homeless people talk about how important socks are really made an impact,” said Joanne Eagan, the school’s principal and Colleen’s mom. “The next day they were bringing in packages of socks. They loved doing this.”
The students exceeded a goal of collecting 1,000 pairs of socks over 90 days.
“The student council really wanted to do something to help the homeless,” said 14-year-old Dariana Nayola, student council president. “We heard that during the wintertime, a lot of diseases are spread through your feet. They don’t have the money, time or resources to help themselves. We saw an opportunity to help through Colleen.”
The socks will be distributed to shelters across Greater Boston.
Bridget Turcotte can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @BridgetTurcotte.