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YOUNGSTOWN - The Society of St. Vincent de Paul hosted its annual Back to School Children's Sock & Underwear Giveaway on Saturday. Part of St. Vincent's Summer Outreach program, the event provides struggling families with essential clothing for children going back to school this fall.
Approximately 200 people received items at the society's pantry on Via Mount Carmel Avenue. Of those receiving clothes 133 were children and 73 adults.
"It is part of the outreach program where we actually take our mission out the front door," said Alan Ricks, executive director of St. Vincent's Mahoning District Council. "Every year around this time before school, we started years ago a sock and underwear drive for kids and young adults."
The giveaway is part of St. Vincent's overall purpose of providing financial and material aid to those in need. While it mainly focuses on food, St. Vincent has been expanding the kind of aid it can deliver.
"Food has been our primary mission for the last 75 years, but we now have clothing, household goods, furniture and mattresses so we can provide for people, [and] to expand our mission in that way," Ricks said.
"We also give out school supplies. If somebody happens to donate school supplies, we give that out in addition."
Ricks also said that St. Vincent was looking to have "behavioral health services, mental health services, as well as workforce development" that would be provided by third parties partnered with St. Vincent.
According to Mary Elaine Lyden, board secretary for the Mahoning District Council, the sock and underwear giveaway originated from a desire to provide something other organizations did not.
"Prior to that, we did the field backpacks [giveaway]," Lyden said. "So many other organizations were doing the back-to-school [giveaways], backpacks, school supplies or whatever. This was a need, the socks and underwear."
Aside from its services to those in need, St. Vincent's mission has also provided a sense of fulfillment and satisfaction for its volunteers, officials said.
"In general, giving is very satisfying, and we are trying to do more with what we have," Ricks said. "It's a good feeling to be able to help those, who we truly know, have a need, and don't have the same thing we have, and so we try to share them."
All of the clothing given away was provided by donations to St. Vincent. The organization also maintains the Thrift Store and Donation Center in Boardman that sells affordable clothing. Money made from sales goes to offsetting St. Vincent's costs.