Got Served.

This Season our Family did a little bit of service, below are a few emails that describes why and how it happened. I guess I will admit to being too lazy to write all about in its entirety right now.

11/01/2009

Hello Friends and Family,

I am generating a mass email asking for help. This past general conference was an inspirational one for our family, particularly President Monson's talk on service. As a family we decided that we would do a service project this season. One to help others, two, to learn work together as a family on a common goal, and three to show our love for our Savior who has blessed us with so much. After doing some research and some leg work we have decided we would collect socks on behalf of a non-profit organizations called Comfort Socks. http://www.comfortsocksonline.org/ This organization collects new, adult sized athletic socks on behalf of the homeless and distributes them nation wide. Now you may ask why socks? The answer is simple: comfort. It just feels good to put on a new pair of socks, and this warm and comfortable feeling can help to ease the pain of someone who feels lost or forgotten by this world. Socks are an important part of health and a constant need for homeless people, who are mostly on their feet, and often do not change socks on a daily basis.

So now the help request. Our family will be collecting socks until November 30th,and we would greatly appreciate your help. For those of you who live here in town, if you would like to donate we would be happy to pick up your donations, or if your children attend Sunset Hills your children can bring your socks into school. We were thrilled when the elementary school the girls attend said the could help out with the sock drive. If you live out of state sock donations can be mailed: via US Postal Service to:Comfort Socks - PO Box 477 - Supply, NC 28462To send us socks via UPS or Fed Ex - please contact Theresa Tese at 910-269-8577 for the address.Or you can send them to us and we can send them in with all that we collect. Also if socks aren't on the docket to donate or your willing to help out some more, the organization has asked for me to collect cards of well wishes made by children to hand out with the socks. The director says that it lifts the spirits of the homeless tremendously to receive a homemade card. What a great FHE activity to do. (hint, hint). :) We sure hope this email reaches you all in safety and happiness and thank you for any help you can offer towards are family goal.Please feel free to forward this email to anyone you think would be interested.

Thanks Again.

The Gearharts

12/10/2009

Dear Friends and Family,

I had quite the morning this morning as I was able to tape a shipping label on quite a large package. I must admit to you all that I was filled with an incredible amount of warmth and love as I stuffed each and every last sock I could into that box. Thank you so much for helping our family out in our very first attempt at our own service project. As a whole we were able to collect more than 350 pairs of socks and over 100 hand made Christmas cards for the homeless, equaling a total of 52 pounds! This was no small feat for sure and we would not have been able to accomplish this without the help of you all. My heart is filled with gratitude for those of you who put forth your resources to donate and help out. We feel so blessed to be part of such a great world, a great community, and a great family.

Thanks Again.

The Gearharts

Theresa, (Founder of Comfort Socks)

The reason we wanted to do this is because this past October was an inspirational one for our family. We are members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and twice a year our church has meetings, called General Conference, where we have the opportunity to listen to prominent leaders of our church give us guidance and spiritual up-liftment. Our family was particularly inspired by our church president, Thomas S. Monson's talk on service. After listening to his talk we decided that we would do a family service project this season. One to help others, two, to learn work together as a family on a common goal, and three to show our love for our Savior who has blessed us with so much. After doing some research and some leg work I came across your listing for help on the United Way website. Comfort Socks seemed like the perfect fit for our family. Having small children, Allison 10, Claire 7, Ainsley 6, and Rainier 1, its not easy finding a project that your whole family can do together. We liked the idea that we could do this from our home, on our own time, and invite friends and family to help out.

We were so excited when our school agreed to help out and were able to hold a month long sock drive there. My children were thrilled with the idea and were more than pleased to be able to tell the teachers that their family was the one responsible for the drive. My daughters teachers were very supportive and had their classrooms make cards for the cause also. This experience was one of much worth for all of those involved. It gave each of us, young and old alike, a common purpose and goal. Unfortunately the Walmart sock drive didn't work out, time got away from us, but we were thrilled to have collected more than 350 pairs of socks.

Thank you for the opportunity to be able to help your great nonprofit organization out and allow our community to grow a little bit closer because of it.

Thanks Again.

Jolene Gearhart