Donation drive back on its feet after downtown theft

There’s a cold-hearted thief in Winnipeg who won’t have cold feet.

Someone made off with more than 160 pairs of socks, to be donated to people in need, that were in Ashley Munro’s car, which was parked downtown Monday afternoon. They had smashed a window to get into the vehicle.

“The first thing (I thought) was ‘My socks are gone,’” said Munro. “I didn’t think of anything else in the car, it was just like, ‘Oh no, I got all these donations and now they’re gone’… it’s 164 pairs that could have gone to quite a few people.”

Munro, who volunteers with the St. Laurent branch of the Manitoba Métis Federation, had collected the socks from community members for Main Street Project’s Socktober campaign.

The footwear is given to homeless people and others served by the Winnipeg non-profit organization.

“It was a kick in the gut,” said Munro.

When she posted about the theft on social media, the situation went from “heartbreaking to heartwarming,” said Munro.

Her post has been shared widely and people have reached out to donate socks and money, allowing her to collect far more socks than she had planned to donate.

As of Thursday afternoon, she had collected nearly 1,000 pairs, which she’ll donate Friday.

“To know that the community, not just St. Laurent, but across Manitoba, are known for being generous and stepping up for things like this, this goes to prove that people do care,” said Munro.

“It’s awesome to see all these people stepping up in such short notice, just to help out like that. People do deserve a little bit of help, no matter what.”

Cindy Titus, Main Street Project’s interim director of development, said the organization has so far collected 14,780 pairs of socks.

The goal is to collect about 30,000 pairs during the annual drive to help the organization get through the cold and wet winter months.

“People experiencing homelessness are at great risk of foot-health-related issues, because they’re often spending a lot of time outdoors in extreme weather conditions, without proper footwear, including socks,” said Titus. “We want to make sure we always have socks on hand to provide to people.”

Titus said the Main Street Project team was saddened to learn Munro’s car had been vandalized and the socks had been stolen.

“I’ve been in touch with her and… said ‘We’re really sorry that this happened’ and thanked her for being willing to do her sock drive again, to make sure that people are getting what they need,” said Titus.

“I think that really says a lot about her as a person… she was disheartened that it happened, but wasn’t swayed from helping out those who really need socks.”

erik.pindera@freepress.mb.ca