Schools

Hauppauge Students Start Up Socks for Sandy

Hauppauge students collecting new socks to deliver to the Long Island victims of Hurricane Sandy.

Two Hauppauge teens have started up a local fundraiser to give back to the Long Island victims of Superstorm Sandy.

 Ian McMahon and his sister, Jocelyn, will be collecting packages of sock for at Hauppauge High School and Middle School through December that will be distributed to those in need.

"I read in the newspaper that the most needed thing is socks. Everyone donates clothes, no one donates socks," Ian said.

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The McMahon family was without power for four days after Sandy, but recognizes they are among the fortunate. Ian, a sophomore at Hauppauge High School, said he was taken back by the severe damage fallen trees did to the bird section of Hauppauge, and knows it is worse on the south shore. 

"We got very lucky. A big tree in the front yard fell down onto the drive way in the middle of the night but no cars were damaged," he said. 

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The teen and his sister learned from a family friend, a social worker that volunteers with various nonprofits, that fresh socks were badly needed by those who everything to the storm. 

Ian remembered the success of which collected packaged socks to send to Japanese tsunami in 2011, and brought the idea up to the 10th-grade student government. He quickly got his AP World History teacher and assistant principal Joy Ferrara to support the fundraiser. 

Collection boxes labeled with "Sock Box" will be placed in front of the main office of Hauppauge High School and the middle school lobby. Students are encouraged to place donates of new socks of all sizes in the bin, which will be periodically emptied and donated to Tara's Silent Angels and possibly The Red Cross. 

Tara's Silent Angels is a grass roots nonprofit organization formed specificly to get bare necessities including food, water, clothing, shoes and toiletries to Hurricane Sandy victims. 

Socks will be collected through Dec. 21, the last day of school for Hauppauge students before the winter recess. 


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