Claire Gallop is no stranger to the effect frigid temperatures can have on feet.

The administrative assistant in Brock’s Department of Philosophy walks up the Niagara Escarpment trails to work each day from her home, even in the depths of winter.

This first-hand knowledge prompted Gallop to begin volunteering with Socks for Change, a local initiative that aims to end poverty feet first. She has now partnered with numerous units across Brock’s campus to help give a figurative ‘leg up’ to local men in need by gathering change — in mannequin legs — to purchase new pairs of warm wool socks.

Gallop and the team from Socks for Change have joined forces with Brock alumnus James Symons (BRLS ’11), founder of the Toolbox Project Niagara, to attempt to raise $1,000 at the University. The funds will be used to pay for a pair of socks in each of the 500 shoeboxes Symons is hoping to assemble for the project, which donates essential items to local homeless men.

Mannequin legs can now be found around the main campus waiting to be filled with change. For every $2 raised, a pair of high-quality socks made to military-level specifications can be put into one of the Toolbox Project boxes.

Gallop is confident the funding goal will be met thanks to the community-minded focus of the University and its faculty, staff and students.

“Brock has always been extremely philanthropic and community-driven,” she said. “I know that this university is compassionate and I know we can raise the money needed to get socks into every one of those boxes.”

As well as helping local men, Gallop said the program’s sock manufacturer also employs new Canadians to help knit the socks, providing them with ongoing income.

With the Friday, Dec. 14 deadline for donations quickly approaching, Gallop hopes the Brock community will contribute enough spare change to help fill all of the Toolbox Project boxes and more.

“There are more than 25 shelters in the Niagara region,” she said. “There is always somewhere that can use more socks.”

Socks for Change mannequin legs can be found in:

• The Student Life and Involvement Commons (MCA 204)
• CareerZone (ST 119 at the end of Market Hall)
• Co-op office desk (MCA 336)
• North service desk (DEC R223)
• South service desk (LOW 104)
• The Department of Recreation and Leisure Studies (STH 354)
• The Department of Philosophy (GLN A273)
• Walker Complex welcome desk
• The Office of the President (ST 1320)
• The Facilities Management recycle trolley (Moving throughout campus)
• General Brock

To learn more about Socks for Change, visit the Socks for Change website or contact Gallop at cgallop@brocku.ca x3315.

Donations of hygiene and first-aid items for the Toolbox Project will also continue to be collected in front of the Student Life and Involvement Commons (MCA 204) until Dec. 14.