Hannah’s Socks: Young girl helps stock Toledo shelters with new socks

On Thanksgiving Day in 2004, then-4-year-old Hannah Turner helped serve dinner to the needy at Toledo, Ohio's Cherry Street Mission with her parents, Vic and Doris, and siblings.

The young girl noticed a homeless man in line. His shoes were torn up, revealing socks with holes in them.

"Mom, I'm gonna give the man my socks," Hannah said, promptly removing her own socks.

Touched by her daughter's generosity, Doris took Hannah shopping for socks to donate to local shelters the next day.

The next Thanksgiving, Hannah wanted to give more socks.

Over the next two years, Hannah and her family collected and donated nearly 10,000 pairs of socks to Toledo-area shelters.

Hannah's Socks was born.

Inspired by their daughter's compassion for the less fortunate, Vic and Doris created a charitable organization that aims to reflect Mother Teresa's approach: "I do what I can, where I am, with what I have."

"At Hannah's Socks, we have stepped into this tradition of caring and sharing. We are neither global, nor nationwide. We currently serve shelters that help homeless people and victims of abuse in Northwest and Southwest Ohio," Vic wrote on the organization's site.

Last year, Hannah's Socks collected more than 200,000 pairs of socks, the Toledo Free Press reported.

"No one can do everything, but everyone can do something," Vic told Bus 52.