Vernon Student Embarks On Another 'Socktober' Campaign For The Needy

VERNON, CT — A Vernon student is in the midst of his annual campaign to collect socks for the needy in time for the colder months.

Tommy Glinski, now a freshman at Rockville High School, has embarked on another "Socktober" campaign to collect socks for people who are experiencing homelessness or just can't afford some. He has been collecting socks annually since elementary school. Since his Socktober campaign began, more than 5,000 pairs of socks and as well as cash have been donated to aid Vernon's Cornerstone shelter, which serves the area's homeless population with a clothing bank.

Glinski said he is hoping this year's effort is the most successful to date. The effort runs until Nov. 15. He began collecting socks for Cornerstone in 2016, when he was a third grader at Northeast School in Vernon. He said then he was looking for a way to help his community, and contacted Bryan Flint, an official at Cornerstone.

"I wanted to try to make a difference, to help people," Glinski said. "And I learned that this really simple gesture,
providing new socks for people, was a good way to help."

Cornerstone's shelter and clothing bank serves Vernon and several other communities.

"We went to Cornerstone to see what they needed ... They were really low on socks," Glinski said.

Glinski asked his teachers at Northeast School for their help and, that first year, people donated 200 pairs of socks. Glinski transferred to Center Road School in Vernon for the fourth grade, the school supported him 100 percent and Socktober too off through his tenure at Vernon Center Middle, when Vernon Mayor Dan Champagne joined in to help spread the word townwide.

Collection boxes are now in town buildings as Glinsky keeps the campaign going while at Rockville High School.

"Tommy's continuing commitment to help his community is inspiring and impressive," Champagne said. "He represents what makes Vernon a special place. We look out for each other and Tommy has taken that to a new level with his annual Socktober campaign to assist our neighbors at Cornerstone."

Fresh socks are a key element for the homeless and needy population, Flint said.

He said Cornerstone is usually able to help people with second-hand clothing that is donated to its clothing
bank, which there is a market for. Socks are different. he said.

"We have shirts and pants and jackets and shoes," Flint said. "If you get those used, it really doesn’t
matter.

"But socks and underwear are a different matter, he said. "Quite reasonably, no one wants used socks or
underwear. That’s why we try to provide folks with new socks and underwear."

Flint said that Cornerstone does not just aid people who stay at the shelter. Sometimes people show up at Cornerstone's door soaking wet because they have been out in the rain.

"People can come in, take a shower and get a set of clean, dry clothes and new socks and underwear," he said.

Flint asks that in addition to socks, people can consider donating a package of underwear too.

Glinski said that all kinds of socks are needed — for men, women and children, Collection boxes that have been placed at the Vernon Police Department, Vernon Town Hall, Rockville High School, Northeast School, Maple Street School and Vernon Center Middle School. There are also collection boxes at LuAnn’s Bakery and Earthlight Solar and Energy Solutions, both in Ellington.