Milton second grader helping the homeless stay warm with yearly sock drive

MILTON, Mass. — Big hearts come in all sizes. And in this case, in the size of a second grader from Milton who is helping the homeless stay warm.

Seven-year-old Sophia Casini is the brains behind Sophia's Socks for the Homeless -- a yearly sock drive to help the homeless at St. Francis House in Boston stay cozy during the winter.

"I knew I wanted to make sure that the homeless in our community had warm and toasty feet," Sophia says.

The second grader rolled out the idea when she was just 4-years-old because her school in Milton did one.

"I was like, I can do one of my own," she says.

Now she recruits family members, like her grandfather, to help collect socks. Over the years, Sophia has turned a couple hundred donations into thousands.

Her ultimate goal she says, "maybe 101 thousand."

Not only is Sophia collecting socks in her hometown, but she's worked deals with her dance studio in Boston and other businesses across the state. She's even making an impact as far away as Connecticut where she has family collecting donations, too.

"She promotes it. She gets everyone excited about it," says Mr. Redden, Sophia's school Principal.

Sophia is collecting the socks through next week, and she's reminding everyone that the socks have to be clean.

"Last year someone put their socks in that they had on their feet.... It was so gross," she says.

After she collects all the socks, she gets to do her favorite part before Christmas.

"When I come in and everybody sees me arriving with the socks," Sophia says. "I have one lady who I see her every time, and she gives me big hugs and I like it."

Cox Media Group