As the Lions Club of Bergvliet prepare to submit their application for the longest line of socks in the world to the Guinness Book of World Records, thousands of feet are being kept warm across the Western Cape.
On Human Rights Day (Monday 21 March), Bergvliet Lions, in collaboration with Bergvliet High School, held a sock-a-thon at the school’s premises. With an auditor on hand to ensure that everything was done by the book, a total of 15 000 pairs of socks were carefully laid out to form a 15 km-long line.
But Gail Darling, a member of Bergvliet Lions, says it was not all about setting a world record. She says the club wanted to hold a fun event to create awareness of the Lions Club in South Africa while supporting a charity.
“We wanted to show people that when you become a Lion, you can have a lot of fun while giving back to the community.”
Having done a Google search, she found that the least donated item to homeless shelters were socks and underwear.
Darling says, at first, she thought they would just collect a few hundred socks and that would be it.
“But suddenly it took on a whole life of its own.”
One of the club’s first moves was to contact a few local sock manufacturers to hear if they would donate their rejects but then Sexy Socks in Pinelands responded by donating 7 500 pairs of brand-new school socks.
Darling says that is when the club decided to go full-out. A call went out to members of the public and other Lions clubs to donate new, gently used or even single socks for which Darling promised to find a “sole” mate.
Local charities who would be best positioned to distribute the socks collected were also identified. “I believe passionately in community service. I also believe in networking with other charities. At the end of the day, we all have the same end goal – to help the less fortunate. Instead of working in silos, we could all connect. That was one of the additional positive things that came from the sock-a-thon. Different charities got to meet each other which may lead to possible collaboration with other clubs,” she says.
After hours spent washing, mending and teaming up single socks with suitable partners, the time finally arrived to neatly place the tagged socks on the field at Bergvliet high.
Darling describes the support received from the school as phenomenal.
Singling out Stephen Price, the school’s principal, and Kay Warne, the school’s events and marketing manager, Darling says, without their help, the sock-a-thon would not have been such a success. She adds it was also amazing to see the learners get involved.
“A lot of learners got there at 06:00 in the morning, in the dark. The socks were stored in a building at the school. The learners carried over the socks to the field and began to help with laying out the socks. They carried on working until every single sock was laid out by 11.30.
“Two learners stood out on the day with their friendliness and committment to the project. Daniel Ziller and Alexis van der Walt were amazing,” says Darling.
VIPs attending the event included the Western Cape Minister of Education Debbie Schäfer, Deputy Mayor Eddie Andrews, Ward 63 councillor Carmen Siebritz, Ward 60 councillor Mark Kleinschmidt, Danny Diliberto, the founder of Ladles of Love, and the head of operations at Sexy Socks, Cameron Froud.
Presidents of various Lions Clubs from as far afield as Mooreesburg also attended.
After the socks were measured, the recipients of the socks were invited onto the field to collect their allocated share. Beneficiaries included Lions clubs, Hope for Africa, the Honeybun Foundation, Naruna Estate, Girls and Boys Town, Western Cape Cerebral Palsy Association, Lavender6 and the Happy Hearts Crèche.
With 1,45 million members worldwide, Lions International is one of the largest service organisations. It focuses on five main pillars of service: diabetes, environment, hunger, childhood cancer and vision.
Darling encourages residents to join their local clubs and help them pay it forward.
“Each club serves the unique needs of their community in which they live and because we are a global organisation, we can address challenges that go beyond our borders,” she says.
- Anyone interested in joining the Lions Club of Bergvliet can call the club on 079 151 4679.
