CHARLOTTESVILLE (CVILLE RIGHT NOW) — As part of its annual “Socktober” event, team members at the UVA Health Medical Center donated 42,311 pairs of socks for The Haven and Salvation Army in Charlottesville.

The event is run each year by the Morrison Healthcare team the medical center.  Morrison Healthcare is the medical center’s food and nutrition provider, and the 42,311 donated by UVA Health, including both the medical center and its remote department all across the Commonwealth, is a new record for any Morrison Healthcare facility since the event began in 2020. It’s also almost triple the 15,780 pairs donated by UVA last year.

“I set out a goal this year for 20,000 pairs,” Chadwick French, the medical center’s System Operations Controller for Morrison. “So obviously we doubled our goal this year, which is absolutely amazing.”

In an efforts to stoke some friendly competition with the departments, French said he challenged each one to see who could donate the most, with the winning department receiving a catered event from Morrison.

“One thing I’ve learned from being doing this for the past four years is that competition alone is just amazing to see,” he said.
”They are probably some of the most competitive people I know being able to get back to a charity like this, is just amazing.”

French was on hand to help deliver the socks to The Haven. He said it took him “about a good 12 plus hours” to count the socks and store them in bins for delivery. It came out to 95 separate 72 qt. bins of socks, donated “basically about evenly” between The Haven and Salvation Army.

“I would say roughly, it’s a little over 20,000 pairs of socks per place, dividing evenly as we possibly could,” he said.

The Haven, located just off of W. Market St. in downtown Charlottesville, is a nonprofit aimed at ending homelessness in the city and surrounding communities while providing a safe and welcoming space for the homeless population. They also aim to support those suffering from homelessness and poverty by connecting them with resources and creative housing interventions.

The Salvation Army of Charlottesville also aims to assist the homeless and other in need in Charlottesville. According to its website, its goal to for everyone who enters its program to “become part of a supportive community with a network of resources, family, and friends”

With a van full of bins parked right outside of The Haven, employees from UVA Health, volunteers from The Haven and even bystanders on the street pitched in to help unload the boxes for the shelter. French said socks are the number one requested item from homeless shelters every year, and that being able to give back is “just amazing.”

“The amount of just charity and giving, in a time in which we probably need it more than anything, it’s just great to see,” he said, “and it really coincides great with actually what’s coming up this week with it being Thanksgiving.”