Christmas is coming, the goose is getting fat
Please put a penny in the old man’s hat
If you haven’t got a penny, a ha’penny will do
If you haven’t got a ha’penny then God bless you!
Socks are probably the last thing you want under your Christmas tree on Wednesday morning. But I hope it’s the very first present you open because it will say something about your situation.
- You’re loved enough by someone to receive a gift, even if it’s only socks.
- It means your warm and dry and have shelter.
- You probably have plenty of old socks that would do the job just fine. New socks or not, I bet you have a clean pair for every day of the week.
But on Christmas morning a lot of people won’t get anything, not even socks. It’s sad because after having a roof over their head and something to eat, they really wanted socks. And not getting socks says something about their situation.
- They may not be loved by anyone.
- They’re living outdoors.
- They don’t have dry, clean socks.
You needn’t look any further than the example of Elizabeth who is without support, shelter or clean socks.
Be thankful that you got those boring socks for Christmas. We should all be thankful that there are real-life Santas like Hanes, The Salvation Army and Mark Horvath that are giving socks to the people who want and need them most.
Since November, Hanes – the king of socks! – has been giving socks to the homeless. By the time they’re done they will have distributed 500,000 of them to five homeless shelters in New York and California.
Over the past five years, Hanes has donated millions of socks to the needy.
“I’ve been homeless myself,” explained Mark Horvath, who founded Invisible People, an organization that strives to make the otherwise invisible homeless visible through video storytelling. “Socks are like gold to the homeless. Most people don’t think about having cleans socks. We take it for granted.”
Its reflected in donations to shelters. “Socks are the most requested but least donated item needed at shelters,” Horvath added.
So, I’ll say it again. I hope you get socks for Christmas. You’ll be disappointed but you’ll also be lucky. And if you don’t get socks, well, God bless you.