Every winter season, Queen City Unity hosts a drive called the QCU-Coats, Socks, and PJ Drive. Their intention is to give coats, socks, and PJs to the 700+ children in the foster care system in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Guardian ad Litem program, but the outcome is always much greater.
From November 1st to December 3rd this past season, individual donors and large corporations came together and donated 15,000 lbs of children's coats and PJs. While that number is tremendous and so many children were able to go home with warm clothes of their own, there was still something missing. "The youth being served asked for more socks since those are a daily necessity," says Queen City Unity's founder Jorge Millares, "and thanks to Restore Global, we were able to acquire over 15,000 pairs of socks for the foster children in Charlotte." With that many socks, Queen City Unity was actually able to inundate the children in the Charlotte area foster system with socks AND ship them to surrounding counties for their children in the foster care system.
"These children come from broken homes where their parents are either incarcerated, in drug rehabilitation, or involved in other unique circumstances. They tend to bounce from home to home and typically do not have much that they can call their own. They simply use what is available at their foster homes," continues Jorge. "The Queen City Unity-Coats, Socks, and PJ Drive not only keeps them warm every winter, but it also allows them to feel a sense of ownership of these items. Thanks to Restore Global the 2018 QCU-Coats, Socks, and PJ Drive was an absolute success and we collectively kept many children warm and feeling loved this winter."
Restore Global works to acquire and redeploy things like socks every day. Because our inventory is so broad, we can meet almost any need for non-profits in the Charlotte area and around the world. Founder Steven Wray explains, "It only makes sense to partner with our good friends at Queen City Unity. We're thrilled to be able to help in such a big way."
Bringing non-profits like Queen City Unity together with Restore Global is something so simple and so instrumental in the expansion and rehabilitation of the Charlotte area. Small things like socks can truly make a difference in a child's life, and thanks to this wonderful collaboration, no feet were cold, and no socks were wasted.