Just when you thought socks were just for feet

On December 2, more than 76 students, staff and faculty members lobbed socks at each other to raise awareness of the need for winter wear during the cold months. Items like socks, hats, and gloves are desperately needed this time of the year.

During the sock fight, tunes blasted, laughs abounded, and the referee got in some good yelling. There was some first-rate fun had all around. The event attracted several news outlets to further spread awareness and, most importantly, 9,374 pairs of socks (and in-kind outerwear), were collected to donate to the Boyle McCauley Health Centre (home to the SHINE clinic)! This bested last year's total of 8,486 pairs. In its first year of running the sock drive, just 550 pairs of socks were collected. Now, five years later, a total of over 26,700 pairs of socks have been collected!

SHINE is a student-run clinic in the inner city providing free dental care to individuals. SHINE clinics run every Saturday and the team consists of students from each of the four-years of the dentistry program and a preceptor.

The amazing generosity demonstrated through this sock drive is just one way the students, staff and faculty can give back to the community.

Update: due to some last-minute donations, the total for this year is 9,419 pairs of socks (and in-kind outerwear), bringing the overall total to over 26,750. The story was also picked up by Global Lloydminster and CTV Montreal.