The Allure Group Partners with DentServ on Sock Drive
December 4, 2018
This winter, The Allure Group will proudly lend a hand to those in need of footwear. That’s why Allure became one of the first companies to partner with DentServ Dental Service, P.C., a provider of premier contractual dental services, on its sock drive, an initiative that aims to provide New York City’s homeless with suitable socks.
“As soon as I heard of this drive, I felt that it was such a wonderful way to give back,” Melissa Powell, The Allure Group’s Chief Operations Officer, said. “I immediately reached out to DentServ’s COO, Isaac Newman, to offer our facilities as drop-off locations.”
The sock drive, which began in mid-November, will run until the end of January. New or still-packaged and unused socks can be dropped off at any of The Allure Group’s many care centers or shipped to DentServ’s headquarters in Pelham Manor, New York.
According to the Coalition for Homelessness, there were 63,559 homeless people sleeping in New York’s municipal shelters as of October 2018, including 23,136 children. Families, in fact, comprise 75 percent of the city’s shelter population.
That is part of a continuing trend that has seen New York’s homeless rate reach heights not seen since the Great Depression. During the 2017 fiscal year, for instance, 129,803 different homeless men, women and children spent at least one night in a shelter during the 2017 fiscal year. And over the last decade the number of New Yorkers spending a night in a shelter has increased by 75 percent.
The item most in demand at these shelters is socks — above blankets, above jackets, above even food. Socks nonetheless remain in short supply, and that is obviously of particular concern in the winter.
The Community West Foundation notes that frostbite can occur in as little as thirty minutes at this time of year — and as few as 10 minutes when temperatures plunge below zero. And for those who often have to walk long distances each day in order to obtain food, shelter and care, the problem is exacerbated. Not only that, but socks can help stave off diseases and empower their wearers to live in comfort, confidence, and dignity.
As a result various programs have been initiated across the country to address the issue, including the Joy of Sox (near Philadelphia), Bombas (also in New York) and Dignity Health Dominican Hospital (in Sacramento).
Now DentServ is doing its part. And The Allure Group is only too happy to lend a hand.