Sierra Club Socks
(North Carolina) – Social entrepreneur, Diogenes Ruiz set a huge goal for his company: raising one million dollars for the Sierra Club, and one million pairs of socks for the National Coalition for the Homeless with an online sockathon November 1.
The Sock-athon will launch a new line of Sierra Club logo socks with a "Buy one, Give one Free" offer; for every pair of socks sold, a pair goes to the homeless, with 10% of proceeds going to the Sierra Club. "We didn’t just want to make socks," said Ruiz, we wanted to make socks with a purpose. That’s why we teamed up with the Sierra Club.”
A member of inSide919, the Triangle, North Carolina group of inSide AreaCodes networks, Ruiz presented the project to network founder, Pat Howlett. Before long the Sockathon was adopted by the "Let's Make Stone Soup" group, as the first community project.
Stone Soup volunteers included musicians, videographers, actors, writers, jewelers and even a fireman, who brainstormed ways to get America’s attention. Among the ideas were videos, concerts, parties, super heroes, cartoons, songs and social media like Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, Gather, Care2, Meetup, Ning.com groups and blogs.
Naming the Sockathon campaign “Change your Socks, Change the World,” Ruiz designed a logo made of socks. He directed volunteers in a Godfather spoof, complete with music, Sockfather Part 1. The musicians recorded a contemporary song which plays on the MySpace Sierra Club Socks site. The videographer interviewed Ruiz and distributed the video through a network of sites. Super heroes were drawn by Ruiz, also a digital artist, creating Sock Man and Sock Woman with the super power to reduce carbon footprints, as announced in the Super Hero Bulletin. Ruiz also created a "S ock Market cartoon."
Dozens of individuals around the US are spreading the word through friends, companies and schools. Sharon Atma, and her daughter, Catrina Guenther, a second-grade Michigan girl, joined the effort, saying, "In today's world, we are constantly bombarded with things essentially out of our control -- war, bailouts, foreclosures... Let's show our kids that good things happen as well." Ruiz will be tracking the socks ordered by people who mention Catrina’s name. To date, 100 pairs of socks will be donated because of Catrina.
Friends of the National Coalition for the Homeless and Sierra Club members have shown strong interest. The National Coalition has listed the Sockathon prominently on their Web site.
To participate in the Sockathon, register at Sierra Club Socks, www.sierraclubsocks.com. Sock photos are viewable on the Sneak Preview video at www.myspace.com/
