San Francisco 1st grader takes initiative; collects socks for the homeless
SAN FRANCISCO - She’s only in the first grade, but she's already thinking about those who are less fortunate than herself. Nicole Acosta of San Francisco says during this holiday season, she wants to do more than collect toys for other children; she wants to help the homeless.
With her mother and grandma by her side, the six-year-old is sorting socks her family has helped her collect. In years past, Nicole has also helped serve meals to the elderly.
She tells KTVU when she saw her father give money to a homeless person, she wanted to do more.
"I thought that was a very nice thing to do. It made me feel like we should give [the] homeless things," said Nicole.
Her mom, Lauren Ngoi, said she first realized her daughter wanted to help the homeless when Nicole drew a picture showing herself helping the homeless and then she wrote about it.
"It said I want to save all my money and food and give it to the homeless when I grow up," said Ngoi. "I was very surprised. I never spoke to her about giving to the homeless."
Now, Nicole has dozens of donated new and gently used socks provided by mainly family, friends, and co-workers.
The first grader said she wanted to help keep the homeless warm and safe.
"They'll be very cold, they'll get sick and we don't want that. Since they have less stuff I want to give more stuff. I want them to have more stuff like we do,” said Nicole.
A pair of socks with hearts is a favorite with Nicole.
"It feels like giving love to the homeless," said the little girl.
Nicole told KTVU she wants to collect five million pair of socks.
"There's lots of homeless around the world that doesn't have socks,” she said.
Nicole said she's looking forward to handing them out to the homeless along Market Street next week.
“It's exciting that the homeless finally get something."
Her family has set up a bin outside the San Francisco Police Academy on Amber Drive for anyone who wants to donate socks. The cutoff is this Friday afternoon.