Funky socks change lives, and they can change campuses and families, too.
Fundraising is rarely anyone’s favorite activity, yet I want to share this one, because I think it’s such a perfect fit for gifted children’s innate tendency toward social awareness and moral concern.
I’ve never shared anything like this before, but I loved it, and I think you’ll love it, too. I have no monetary connection with the company whatsoever, just in case you were wondering.
If you’re interested in what I think is the absolute best fundraiser around that can also be used as a humanitarian project, stay tuned.
Meet We Help Two
Recently, I met the co-founder of wehelptwo.com, and I was blown away. I asked if I could interview him and share the story. This video explains how it works, and I’ll explain more as well.
WeHelpTwo partners with clinics around the world to find people in need of limbs. This is shockingly easy to find, as in many poor rural areas, people often don’t have the money to pay for a limb. So they go without.
Can you imagine that? It boggles the mind.
How it Works
You sell packs of three pair of their cool “funky” socks for $12. For every 80 packs of socks sold, someone gets a leg AND you get 80 pairs of warm socks to donate to a charity or shelter in your area.
You can set up an online campaign and use the interwebs and social media to help power your project, and you can also sell socks in person. They’ll send a box of 50 or 100 packs of socks to the school for no upfront cost.
The socks are cute. Really cute.
You have some options:
Humanitarian:
As I mentioned, you don’t have to use it for a fundraiser. It is a wonderful humanitarian project for families and schools.
Socks:
This is the most straightforward project. For every 80 packs of socks sold, enough money is raised to pay for a limb for someone in need. Additionally, you get a pair of warm socks to donate to a shelter or other organization. Once the leg(s) have been fit to the recipient, WeHelpTwo sends pictures and information about the person or people who is/are walking because of your efforts.
Warm socks are the most needed and least frequently donated item at shelters. Last year, WeHelpTwo donated 20,000 pairs of warm socks.
One story Trevor told me really struck me as an educator. The 7th grade at a school ran a project selling the socks to raise money for legs. They sold enough socks to give six people prosthetic legs.
Coincidentally, the 6th grade at the school was doing a unit on homelessness. The 7th graders gave the 6th graders the warm socks they’d earned, and the 6th graders donated those socks to a local shelter.
That, my friends, is a win.
Water:
This is more expensive and complicated, but for about $3,000 you can bring clean water to a village.
This may be a good fit for you if your school has a unit on water because you could pair your learning with a real world activity.
You don’t have to raise all of that yourselves. WeHelpTwo will combine the efforts of multiple schools to bring the water to the people. What a great opportunity for a district to bond!
School Fundraising:
If your school needs to raise money for something, you can bank the money from the sock sales (rather than buying the prosthetic legs). You still get the warm socks to donate, so even when it’s a fundraiser, it has a humanitarian angle. Love it.
Personal Fundraising:
Families can do this – either for themselves or for humanitarian project.
Families have raised money for adoptions or other causes.
One family did it during Christmas to buy a solar powered pump for a well in underdeveloped area. They sold 500 pack! They included their school and church.
It can all be done online if you like. When you set up your campaign, you get your own webpage. You can ship to the host at no cost or the person ordering can pay a small shipping fee to have the socks sent directly to them.
Be in the Know:
This coming school year, WeHelpTwo is adding club foot repair as part of its legs program. Club foot repair costs $400 and is a five-year process. Eighty packs of socks will raise enough for the repair of a club foot.
Consider that: for $400, someone will not be walking on their ankles for the rest of their lives. It’s humbling, isn’t it?
You can read some success stories, if you want more feel-goodness in your life.
Why I Love It
The biggest objection I’ve had to fundraising I’ve seen before is its horrible consumerism. Selling unneeded items for multiple times a reasonable cost for them offends me.
It teaches kids exactly the wrong thing. It sends exactly the wrong message.
This is different in so many ways, and I hope that a school or family looking for a fundraiser or a humanitarian project will be able to use this information.
If you have questions, check out their FAQs or email Trevor from WeHelpTwo at trevor@wehelptwo.com.
And if you do it, please, please let me know.
Best,
