SEICAA Presents: The Socks for Seniors 2022 Stocking Drive

Program Information

Founded by Care Connection of Idaho in 2013 and adopted by SEICAA in 2017, the Socks for Seniors Stocking Drive is a holiday program that aspires to stave off the effects of isolation and loneliness by spreading happiness to local senior citizens. Participants receive friendly visits and a stocking, or “sock,” filled to the brim with donated goods from businesses and individuals in our community.

Thousands of senior citizens have benefitted from the Socks for Seniors Stocking Drive since its inception. And, with the generosity and support of its donors, sponsors, and volunteers, the Stocking Drive grows each year. The 2021 Socks for Seniors Stocking Drive gifted an unprecedented 856 stockings to seniors citizens in Pocatello and Chubbuck, overtaking last year’s record-breaking count by 221 stockings! The Stocking Drive’s popularity further inspired the launch of the Bear Lake County, Caribou County, and Power County Stocking Drives, sister-drives separated by all but their name. The result of the continued dedication from local businesses and individuals to the Socks for Seniors Stocking Drive is not just happier and healthier senior citizens, but also a stronger, more unified community.

The Socks for Seniors 2022 Stocking Drive

This year marks the sixth anniversary of SEICAA’s Socks for Seniors Stocking Drive. Also, starting this year, the Stocking Drive has been a SEICAA program longer than it hasn’t. Some committee members have only known the Stocking Drive as a SEICAA program; others cannot believe how fast time flew by. Despite that, the Stocking Drives themselves are not obscure: each one maintains its own call to action, and thanks to their respective donors, sponsors, and volunteers, we can remember each call we’ve answered.

This year’s Stocking Drive will be no different. In place of last year’s pandemic restrictions are risks stemming from inflation, ushering in a daunting interim that hits senior citizens living on fixed incomes the hardest. Specifically, inflation diminishes our senior citizens’ purchasing power – and not in the ways you may think. Consolidating errand runs, cutting back on groceries (by avoiding meat, fruit, and vegetables), and rationing hot showers are among the ways senior citizens are combatting rising costs. It is a challenge for those who faired well enough against the pandemic, but a day-to-day battle for those more vulnerable. The most vulnerable are forced to go without.

Slicing costs to make do can make for a quiet life, but doing so introduces other, non-financial challenges. The inability to travel or to maintain social connection with family members may lead to isolation and loneliness, placing seniors at higher risk for dementia, depression, anxiety, suicide, and premature mortality. And with agencies serving senior citizens facing staff shortages, mental and physical healthcare are less accessible than before. That’s where the Socks for Seniors Stocking Drive intervenes and makes a real difference for its participants.

Local senior citizens’ needs for happiness and social connection are at an all-time high – in fact, our committee members have received application inquiries for this year’s Stocking Drive since September! But our community comes together continually to meet it. We hope you will answer this year’s call to action to make a GRAND gesture and help us gift 1,000+ stockings to local senior citizens. Know with a donation to any one of the Socks for Seniors Stocking Drives, you are not just donating a gift; you are spreading happiness to those who need it most.

(Source: “While Inflation Takes a Toll on Seniors, Billions of Dollars in Benefits Go Unused.” Kaiser Health News.)
https://khn.org/news/article/while-inflation-takes-a-toll-on-seniors-billions-of-dollars-in-benefits-go-unused/

(Source: “Fewer Hot Showers, Less Meat: How Retirees on Fixed Incomes are Dealing with Inflation.” The Washington Post.)
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2022/03/21/elderly-inflation-fixed-income/