Last week, the total count for the 519Pledge came in. The 519Pledge is an initiative by non-profit 519Pursuit to collect socks for London’s homeless population. The pledge was a six week event with more than 100 participants. This year, the pledge collected a total of 101,755 pairs of socks.
Our friends facing homelessness
Allison DeBlaire and Amber Irvine founded 519Pursuit five years ago. Amber works as a bouncer for the Casino, so she regularly came into contact with people with housing problems. She noticed that people facing homelessness are trapped in a sort of bubble. “Everything they talk about, the people they talk to, everything they do is homeless. I realised that a lot of them were missing a friend,” she says. This sparked the idea for 519Pursuit. It has lead to both Amber and Allison gaining friendships with people facing homelessness, but also to the city changing their language when talking about housing issues.
This year’s sock drive got way bigger than previous years, so Allison is optimistic about shifting next year’s goal up.
The sock drive
According to a 2016 Dalhousie study, two thirds of people facing homelessness have foot problems, ranging from fungal infections to blisters and frostbite. Socks are one of the most asked for items of clothing, but are also some of the least thought of items to be donated. That’s why 519Pursuit launched their annual drive to collect socks and funding. With those, they’re able to help more than 60 shelters from London to Toronto.
One of this year’s pledgers was China Casarin, a London resident and real estate agent. She collected 308 pairs of socks, and got most of them from her neighbours. Initiatives like this, that help the community and bring it closer, are very important according to China.
https://soundcloud.com/user-882723997/china-casarin/s-drWF1SI9Zip?si=de885810dc464429aae2ad22cab02966&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing
Find out more about 519Pursuit and how to volunteer with them here.
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