This holiday season, you have many opportunities to give, and one local group is focusing on giving back to the veterans who are in need. Indiana Podiatry Group is holding their third annual Sock Drive to help homeless veterans in Central Indiana.
Dr. Nathan Graves, who works at the Noblesville and Tipton offices, shows off some of the donations. (Photo provided)
Patient Relations Coordinator Rachel Anderson told The Reporter, “We collect as many sock donations as possible throughout November and December for the homeless veterans who do not have proper feet care because of something as simple as socks.”
Anderson called this their way of giving back.
“As the captain of our Noblesville office, I’d like to reach out to as many people as possible to spread the word for this great cause,” Anderson said. “Sock donations can be brought to our office in Riverview Hospital, 395 Westfield Road, Noblesville. We are at Door 15 in the surgery Pavilion.”
According to Administrative and Marking Assistant Nicole Thompson, there are eight offices in the Indiana Podiatry Group, including not only the Noblesville location at Riverview Hospital, but also 7430 N. Shadeland Ave., Indianapolis, Suite 290 and 410 Fairgrounds Road, Tipton, right behind IU Health Tipton Hospital.
“We work with Hoosier Veterans Assistance Foundation in downtown Indianapolis,” Thompson said. “The patients love it – we have a lot of donations we receive from patients. It’s always a fun time of the year, not just because of the holidays but because of the annual sock drive.”
Internally, this drive has turned into a competition among Indiana Podiatry Group employees to see which office can bring in the most donations. “The last two years the most donations have been from our Tipton. They do an awesome job of reaching out and sharing awareness,” Thompson told The Reporter.
Thompson stressed the importance of adequate footwear, especially during winter.
“That was one of the goals – not just to feel good, but to teach the public that it is important to have footwear,” Thompson said. “One of our core values is to educate people about proper foot and ankle care. We have had people donate blankets in the past. We are open to any donation that will help the homeless veterans in Central Indiana. We get multiple items, mostly hats, gloves and blankets. In the last two years we have collected around 3,900 pairs of socks.”
Thompson said this drive was an idea from two medical assistants in the Noblesville office.
“They wanted to do something to give back during the holidays,” Thompson said. “They thought, ‘Why don’t we help the homeless in and around Indianapolis?’ A lot of times the homeless population suffers from many different health conditions due to inadequate or poor footwear. We reached out to a couple places and got a feel for what they were looking for. From there it turned into a big company-wide effort to collect as many socks as we possibly can.”
This drive is going on now through Dec. 31. During the first week of January, all the donations will be given to the Hoosier Veterans Assistance Foundation for distribution to Central Indiana veterans in need.
You can drop off donations at any Indiana Podiatry Group location. You can also find more information online at inpodiatrygroup.com/news/-who-served-our-country.cfm.