Students at Reagan, Mount Tabor, Reynolds, West Forsyth Help People Who Are Homeless



Reagan students wearing T-shirts (Photo by Amber Bryant)

As a way to help people during the holidays last year, Reagan High School students Nick Nictakis and Jam Sulahry, with support from Hanesbrands Inc., organized a friendly competition called the Forsyth County High School Sock Exchange to collect socks for people who are homeless. “We wanted to do something different,” Sulahry said.

Last year, Reagan competed with Mount Tabor to see who could collect the most socks. “It was a good feeling so we definitely wanted to do it again,” Nictakis said.

This year, they extended the challenge to Reynolds and West as well. “We wanted to step it up,” Nictakis said.

Students at all four high schools accepted the challenge, and, altogether, students collected more than 500 packages – about 3,000 pairs of socks – along with T-shirts and underwear. Hanesbrands offered to give $500 to each school that collected a minimum of 150 packages of socks and underwear, with a total of $1,000 going to the high school that collected the most. The winning school was Reagan, which collected 201 packages of socks, underwear and t-shirts. Mount Tabor High School, which collected 193 packages of socks and underwear, placed second. The prize presentation will take place during the Mount Tabor/Reagan basketball game on Feb. 5.

In addition, at Reagan, Hanesbrands donated Reagan T-shirts screen-printed with the message “I Gave the Shirt Off My Back” that students could buy for $6 each, with all proceeds going to area shelters. Through sales of 473 T-shirts, Reagan raised $2,838.

Hanesbrands is also supporting another sock drive – the Lash/Chronicle Junior Varsity Tournament Sock Drive. The tournament is a competition among the junior-varsity teams at 13 high schools in Forsyth County (Atkins, Carver, East Forsyth, Glenn, Forsyth Country Day, Mount Tabor, North Forsyth, Parkland, Reynolds, Reagan, West Forsyth, Winston-Salem Preparatory Academy and Walkertown). Family, friends and supporters are encouraged to bring socks to the tournament, and the school that collects the most socks will win $500. Hanesbrands will provide the prizes, as well as match the sock donations from each school. The winning school will be announced on Saturday, Dec. 22.

“We’re thrilled to support these young people and this incredible outreach,” said Cheryl Lindsay, Hanebrands’ director of global diversity and community relations. “This is about helping others, and also developing well-rounded citizens. These students are taking a leadership role in helping build their community, and that's something we’re incredibly proud to be a part of.”

The socks and underwear will be given to Samaritan Ministries, Bethesda Center for the Homeless, The Salvation Army Center of Hope and the Winston-Salem Rescue Mission.