Hundreds of socks donated to the homeless by generous King’s Ely community

Students, staff and parents at King’s Ely have rallied round to support the homeless this winter. The school went all out to donate as many pairs of new socks as possible to the Socks and Chocs initiative again this year. The charitable scheme aims to relieve hardship and distress among homeless people and those living in adverse housing conditions.

Generous students, staff and parents at King’s Ely collected a whopping 700 pairs of socks, as well as a stash of chocolate goodies, all of which will now be delivered to Jimmy’s Cambridge, which has been providing help for the homeless in Cambridgeshire for over 20 years. The charity works with the local community, volunteers and partner agencies to deliver 24/7 emergency accommodation and supported housing for those who would otherwise be homeless or vulnerably housed.

King’s Ely started supporting the Socks and Chocs initiative in 2016 after Niamh Quinn, a pupil at King’s Ely Junior, was walking through Ely with her family and witnessed some teenagers being rude to a homeless man in the street. Upset by what she had seen, Niamh decided she wanted to make the man some dinner when she got home. With the help of her parents, Rebecca and Sean, Niamh made the homeless man a meal, rounded up some of her chocolates and some pairs of socks, and delivered them to him.

Niamh and her parents later bumped into the man and he was clutching the socks. He told them he was extremely grateful for them, which triggered Mr Quinn, who is Head of Psychology at King’s Ely Senior, to find out more about the Socks and Chocs initiative. Mr Quinn decided he not only wanted to do more to help the local homeless community but to also use Socks and Chocs as an example when teaching his AS Level Psychology students about social change, which he did again this year.

Around 500 pairs of socks were collected last time so Mr Quinn said he is delighted with the total collected this year.

To find out more about Socks and Chocs, visit www.socksandchocs.co.uk. For more information about Jimmy’s Cambridge, go to www.jimmyscambridge.net.