Kendra Ollinger, of Lehigh, kicked off her third-annual holiday sock drive on Monday, collecting new socks for children and adults to donate to local schools and shelters.

The sock drive will run through Dec. 10.

Ollinger came up with the idea when the church her family had attended while living in the Des Moines area started a sock drive. Ollinger first planned to buy some socks and send them back to the church to donate, but then realized there’s also a need for socks around Webster County.

“The number one most needed item in shelters is socks,” she said. “And it’s not always the most fun to give socks, but it is the most needed.”

-Submitted photo Kendra Ollinger, of Lehigh, holds up a stack of socks she bought for the 2019 holiday sock drive she organized.

At the time, Ollinger’s children attended school in Dayton and had told her about some students who were in need.

“I kind of started it with Dayton in mind,” she said.

In the first year, Ollinger collected more than 2,000 pairs of socks, so she expanded the donations to the Fort Dodge area, as well as schools in Manson, Rockwell City, Eagle Grove and Webster City.

She said in the second year of the sock drive, she collected more than 3,000 pairs of socks, and this year she aims to keep it growing and collect more than 4,000 pairs.

“It’s kind of a hefty goal, but I would love to see it,” Ollinger said.

When Ollinger started her holiday sock drive, she reached out to schools in Fort Dodge, Southeast Valley and Manson-Northwest Webster, because those were the towns where donation boxes were located and she wanted to keep the donations local. She also specifically chose November and December as the timeframe for the sock drive.

“I think in the time of the holidays, people are more in the giving spirit,” she said. “Anyone can donate a pair of socks… so it’s a way for even when times are tough, they’re still able to pay it forward.”

Because Ollinger donates to an array of schools and shelters in the area, all sizes of socks are needed.

Drop off locations for brand new, not used socks are:

Addison James, 1136 Market St., Gowrie

Amigos, 280 N. First St., Fort Dodge

Danny’s Hair Fashions, 1902 First Ave. S, Fort Dodge

Fort Dodge Rec Center, 1422 First Ave. S, Fort Dodge

Fringe Salon, 931 Main St., Manson

Highway 7 Market, 1118 190th St., Manson

JRG Supply, 1357 Third Ave. NW, Fort Dodge

Kelso General Merchandise, 35 S. Main, Dayton.

If you would like to donate and are shipping from out of town, please send to Addison James, PO Box 289, Gowrie, IA 50543.

For more information about the holiday sock drive, contact Ollinger at 515-570-0915. Any local business wishing to host a donation box for Ollinger’s sock drive is encouraged to contact her as well.