Sock drive to help homeless people in Cardiff

The Red Dragon Centre will have a donation point to collect socks for the Huggard Centre in time for the cold weather.

The Huggard Centre reported that socks are the least donated yet most needed item at collection points for people who are homeless. Because of this Cardiff Bay Tavern in The Red Dragon Centre will be holding a donation point specifically for socks, which are either new or clean and undamaged, to be donated to The Huggard Centre to provide those in need.

Huggard is a charity and Wales’ leading centre for people who are sleeping rough and first opened in December 1988. Huggard opens 24/7 and anyone coming into it’s Day Centre can get food and drink, do their laundry, take a shower and have a change of clothes. However, it’s not a “soup kitchen” and its main role is to support and help people who are sleeping rough to rebuild their lives.

The idea for the initiative came from Kate Scourfield, the General Manager of Cardiff Bay Tavern within the centre upon hearing about the need of socks homeless individuals were, especially during winter months as the weather gets colder and wetter. Staff from across The Red Dragon Centre will be encouraged to donate a pair of socks and the centre will be using the hashtag #sockittous to promote the donation point. Capital FM’s Josh and Kally will also be supporting the initiative from their base within the centre.

The donation point  launched this week (October 10) which is also World Homeless Day and will run until after Christmas, giving those who receive unwanted socks as gifts the chance to donate them to the worthwhile cause.

Emma Constantinou, Marketing Manager at The Red Dragon Centre said: “We’re really excited to be holding a donation point for Huggard. The work they do is exceptional so to be able to contribute to their clothing donations is really special. We urge anyone who has socks to donate or receives unwanted socks at Christmas to visit The Red Dragon Centre and give what they can”.

Tony Feasey, Head of Making Friends at Huggard, said: “We’d like to thank the Cardiff Bay Tavern and Red Dragon Centre for their support. It is the little things that can and do make a huge difference to the lives of people we see every day.”

The donation point will be located at Cardiff Bay Tavern inside The Red Dragon Centre and accepts clean and undamaged as well as unused socks.