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Stepping up to meet our 10-year strategic plan goal of cultivating healthy communities and belonging for all — UVA Health launches its annual Socktober initiative on Oct. 1, 2025. This year's goal: collecting 20,000 new pairs! And a new challenge for 2025: Fill the Bin!

Many unhoused individuals rarely take their shoes off, walk often, and don’t always have access to laundry facilities, making clean socks the top requested — yet least donated — item at shelters. Socktober’s mission is to keep feet dry, clean, and warm. In 2024, UVA Health collected more than 15,780 pairs.

Locations

Through 5 p.m., Nov. 3, 2025, individual team members can drop off new pairs of socks in Socktober bins at:

• University Medical Center Cafeteria
• Wahoo West Café
• OR Cafe Lounge
• Food and Nutrition Services ("O" level. Main Hospital)
• Emily Couric Clinical Cancer Center
• Good Grain Cafe, Orthopedic Center at Ivy Road
• Cafe at 500 Fontaine

Department Contest

Or, rally your department! Chadwick French, UVA Health, Morrison Healthcare, says the top five donating departments will win catered events; the top three donating departments also will earn trophies. (Special considerations will be made for department size.) To participate, please include:

• Department name
• Number of new sock pairs
• Name of team member dropping off the donation
• Department contact information

"The question is: can any department dethrone Clinical Engineering — which has won top prize the past three years in a row?" asks French. Game on!

New Challenge: Fill the Bin!

French says each department that would like to participate in the new Fill the Bin challenge will receive a large bin. The goal: to fill the bin as many times as possible with new pairs of socks. Each time a department fills its bin, team members must bring the bin to Food and Nutrition Services and donate the new sock pairs, which will be totaled and added to the department's overall challenge total. The Fill the Bin challenge deadline is 5 p.m., Friday, Oct. 31.

And for every full bin of socks, the department will receive a cookie tray. There will be no limit to the amount of cookie trays a department can receive. Cookie trays will be given out after Socktober is complete. Or tray delivery can be spread out throughout the year based upon the number of trays a department earns. Please contact French to receive your bin if you would like to participate in the Fill the Bin challenge. Bins will be available Tuesday. Sept. 30, and must be picked up from Food and Nutrition Services on the "O" level, Main Hospital.

Printables

To help generate interest: print and hang, or share electronically, a fun sock tracker and horizontal and vertical graphics.

Questions? Contact Chadwick French, System Director of Retail and Marketing, UVA Health, Morrison Healthcare, who also shares well wishes: "Good luck and thank you in advance for your donation!"