‘Socks for Cold Feet’ Gold Award Project Raises Awareness, Socks for Homeless Community
WICHITA, Kan. — Girl Scouts of Kansas Heartland congratulates Grace K. for becoming a Gold Award Girl Scout, a designation she earned by creating the “Socks for Cold Feet” project to educate the community about homelessness and starting an annual sock drive to collect socks and donate them to homeless community members.
The Gold Award is the mark of the truly remarkable — earned by a high school Girl Scout who works to address an issue she’s passionate about in a way that produces meaningful and lasting change. Whether it’s on a local, national, or global level, Gold Award Girl Scouts provide innovative solutions to significant challenges.
“Gold Award Girl Scouts don’t just change the world for the better, they change it for good — and Grace embodies everything this achievement stands for," said Rolinda Sample, chief executive officer of Girl Scouts of Kansas Heartland. “Grace addressed an issue that’s important to her —homelessness in the Wichita community— for her Gold Award, and we congratulate her on this momentous accomplishment.”
With the purpose of helping the homeless community in Wichita, Grace knew she wanted to focus her Gold Award project on getting donations of items that the community needs. In her research, she learned that socks are a highly requested, yet rarely donated item that people need. Thus, her plan for “Socks for Cold Feet” commenced and she acquired 423 pairs through the first sock drive at her church and school.
Along with the sock drive, Grace personally handed out the pairs of socks to the community members during a community event. During Grace’s Gold Award project, she also worked with more than 100 youth church members to educate them on homelessness in Wichita and how to continue the sock drive annually.
“I wanted to help the homeless population in Wichita because they often don’t have the resources they always need and the shelters don’t always have enough space to help everyone,” Grace said. “When I finished my Gold Award, I left with the knowledge that I helped out the community and educated my church’s youth members on the less fortunate and how they can continue to help others.”
