We had been told by Friendship House folks in the past how important socks are to those who live out on the streets and out in the elements. A member of New Castle Presbyterian Church, Mark Rappold, decided to do something about it. He arranged for his employer, Tommy Hilfiger, to make a sock donation.

I was away from church when the call came. Our usually cool, calm and collected Office Administrator sounded a bit less so. A large truck had pulled up with a delivery of socks – 2 pallets’ worth! And they planned to leave them on the curb! We prevailed upon them to get them inside the building. And then we did the numbers. 2 pallets. 38 boxes. Each box containing 50 packs of 3 pairs of socks each. Are you doing the math?
5,700 pairs of socks!! It was more than 6 times what Mark Rappold had imagined it would be!

We were in “sock shock” – but couldn’t stay there for long. It was Monday, and that Friday the new pastor nominee would arrive for a weekend full of festivities – most of which needed to take place in the Fellowship Hall full of sock boxes!

Our Mission & Outreach Committee delivered a box each to 2 elementary schools in New Castle who are part of our Adopt-a-School program. We have taken another to Community Presbyterian Church for their outreach efforts, and one more to the Seamen’s Center at the Port of Wilmington. And Thursday morning, Marc Marcus from Friendship House came and loaded up 34 boxes of 5,100 pairs of socks!

It was “loaves and fishes” for the feet! And each of us who got to witness it just grew wide-eyed and big-hearted over the abundance of it all. Thanks be to Mark Rappold, and to the ministry of Friendship House that inspired him. Thanks be to Tommy Hilfiger, who listened to him. Thanks be to New Castle Presbyterian Church folk who reveled in and reached out with this miracle. And thanks be to God for touching us all through pallets and boxes and packets and pairs of SOCKS!

– Jenny Warren (Interim Pastor at New Castle Presbyterian Church)