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Transparency Reporting

Emphasis on Warm Feet Prompts School Club to Take Action

As winter approaches, it’s easy for most to understand the need to stay warm when outside. What was new to some Great Oaks Academy students was the challenge some people face to merely get warm. With a little motivation from a young YouTube leader, they decided to help as many people as they could.
 
The Great Oaks Community Changers (GOCC) is a special club at the school tasked with making a difference. When these students learned about a special initiative called #Socktober created by “Kid President,” they joined right in.
 
“Socks are the most requested items in homeless shelters, especially during the winter months, so we are trying to help out,” Great Oaks Academy Kindergarten Teacher Dana Zuhlke said. “We sent out the Kid President video to hype up the kids, and then sent flyers to parents, and posted on our school social media.”
 
Club members interacted with fellow scholars, relatives, and friends to collect over 200 pairs of new sock donations; the most collected by the school since they started participating in 2015.
 
“Students were wondering why socks were so important,” Zuhlke said. “That brought up the discussion about how when people get cold, the cold affects the fingers and toes first and we talked about how socks would help that.”
 

The donations were given to SOS Community Services, an organization that is dedicated to finding affordable housing for those who struggle with homelessness. The school received a kind note from the organization recently.
 
“Thank you for collecting and donating socks for Socktober,” the note read. “These socks were given to families living in SOS housing and shelter. Families living in SOS housing often come with very few possessions. Many of the families had to leave behind much of their clothing, toys, books, and other basic items when they became homeless.
 
“Because of you, people will have socks - a very basic, but important and necessary thing! Thank you for thinking of others who need a helping hand in our community.”
 
Great work helping others, Great Oaks!

About Great Oaks Academy
Great Oaks Academy is a tuition-free, public charter school in Warren, Michigan, serving students in kindergarten through eighth grade. It is part of the National Heritage Academies network, which includes more than 100 tuition-free, public charter schools serving more than 65,000 students in kindergarten through 12th grade across nine states. For more information, visit nhaschools.com.

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