Mesa Legend - ARCHIVES - Vol. 39, Issue 7


Volume 39, Issue 7. Today is .

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Volume 39, Issue 7
December 4, 2001

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Sept. 11 charities overshadow
Valley ministry’s sock-drive goal

By Nina K. Brown
Mesa Legend

This holiday season, MCC will once again assist the Shoebox Ministry, a non-profit service organization, in its 11th Annual Holiday Sock Drive.

According to Elinora Aguilar, MCC program director of student activities, this is the second year MCC campus has helped the ministry reach its goal of providing socks for those in need in the community.

"Last year I was really surprised because a couple of the clubs on campus had a big sock drive competition to see who could donate the most socks. One club donated 200 pairs, and the other club donated 175 pairs," Aguilar said. "It was kind of exciting and fun for those who participated."

She added that MCC donated a total of 586 pairs of socks for the ministry last year.

Aguilar said there are boxes located at the front of the Student Center office and the library for those who wish to drop off donations, which are due by Dec. 7.

This year the Shoebox Ministry has set a goal to collect 50,000 new pairs of socks to be distributed, Valley-wide, to the homeless.

However, Laura Borgeson, program director of the ministry, expressed concern that the organization would not reach its goal this year due to the fact that all donations seem to be going to the state of New York in the wake of the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11.

"At this point in time the ministry usually has around 5,000 socks. This year the organization doesn’t even have 3,000 pairs of socks yet," Borgeson said.

She encouraged people in Arizona to remember that there are many in the local community, even neighbors, that need assistance, as well as people in New York.

Borgeson added that donations are also especially low this year because of the unemployment rate caused by the nation’s poor economy.

"Encourage anyone you know to purchase just one pair of socks to donate to the ministry. That would really be helpful," she said.

She also said that the organization is in need of 300 volunteers to help count, sort and wrap the 50,000 pairs of new socks that the ministry hopes to collect.

The sock-wrapping event will take place on Dec. 8.

Borgeson stated that it was her mother, Judy Borgeson, who founded the Shoebox Ministry in 1988.

"She organized the ministry when she realized that, even though there were many homeless shelters and other organizations that helped the needy, there were no organizations in Maricopa County that distributed socks, underwear or toiletries to the homeless," she said. "Any organizations that did collect these items usually sent these things overseas."

As the ministry has grown in recognition over the past 11 years, the organization now sponsors four events during each calendar year to include Easter Box-ets in Apr., Mother’s Day Purses in May, Undie-Sundie in Oct. and the Annual Sock Drive in Dec.

All the donations from these events are distributed to the various Valley agencies and shelters that assist the homeless.