By Wes Tomlinson

For the Enquirer

Residents of The Terrace at Priceville senior living community were amazed Friday as they looked at more than 900 pairs of socks that students at Priceville Elementary helped donate earlier in the week.

“There were approximately 918 (pairs of) socks that our school raised,” said Assistant Principal Brandy Quattlebaum.

Quattlebaum said they have done charity work for the community in the past but the event last month, Socktober, is the beginning of a new tradition.

“We’re going to do (Socktober) every year from now on,” Quattlebaum said.

Principal Daniel Gullion wanted to teach more leadership skills to his students and thought a good start would involve charity work.

“We really wanted to do something for the community,” Gullion said. “So we all brought socks in. First grade counted them, and second grade paired them up.”

Quattlebaum reminded the students that the senior citizens they were donating to have families they would be helping out as well.

“We’ve talked to them and explained to them that this is helping other kids’ grandparents in taking care of them and keeping them warm,” Quattlebaum said. “Just something small that we can do that will make a big difference.”

Quattlebaum said she hopes this Socktober event will influence their kids to aid their communities even when they reach adulthood.

Shuntavia Harris, marketing director at The Terrace, said Priceville Elementary reached out to her Monday to ask if they could donate some socks.

“We were just happening to do our own sock drive, so it worked out perfect,” Harris said. She said she will never forget the students’ good deeds.

“I am personally going to do something for those kids,” Harris said.

Harris said her goal now is to collect 600 more pairs of socks by Nov. 30.

Some pairs of socks will also be distributed to elderly people who live outside of The Terrace.

“We’ve paired up with NARCOG, and they’re going to distribute them out to the community,” Harris said.

Terrace resident Jerry Riley said the world he grew up in was not always eager to help people, so he was surprised to see such community outreach.

“Most of us here have grown up in hard times,” Riley said. “It’s an honor to be helped by the younger community. They are our future leaders, you know.”

Another resident, Ann Hall, said the donation was proof that love and respect still exist in the community.

“Do you know why there’s so many socks?” Hall asked. “It’s because there’s still a lot of loving and caring people during this (COVID-19) crisis, it only continues to grow.”

Gullion and Quattlebaum promised a pizza party to the class who collected the most socks.