Sock drive gives life-saving comfort to thousands of people experiencing homelessness

MONTREAL -

A paramedic with 40 years experience took the lessons he partly learned working out of the city's metro system and annually has campaigned for donations of a very specific item for Montreal's population experiencing homelessness: socks.

Vishal Sharma unloaded another batch of socks Monday knowing firsthand how important clean dry socks are in the cold.

"Getting dry socks is better so that the person doesn't get sick and so you can sleep better," he said

Sharma has been a volunteer and client at St. Michael's Mission for two months, and worked as part of the mission's annual "Sock It To Me" drive aimed at providing dry, clean socks for people on the streets.

"Something as basic as people donating a pair of socks can make a big difference in people's lives," said organizer Barry Christensen. "When you're comfortable and warm, you feel good."

St. Michael's Mission executive director Chantal Laferriere said socks are essential to surviving on the streets particularly during the unforgiving winter months in Quebec.

"If you sleep in the street, well then, you might lose some toes, you might lose your feet," she said. "It's very very dangerous."

It is the seventh sock drive that started small and has grown since.

"The first year I drove down in my Tuscon with 464 pairs," said Christensen. "Now it takes a truckload or two to bring everything in."

Last year, the program collected about 25,000 pairs, by far the most in its history. Organizers attribute the surge in donations to the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown driving numbers.

There are still some pairs leftover from 2020 -- and this year, organizers have accepted around 9,000 pairs.