The Sedona Area Homeless Alliance’s sixth annual “Socktober” sock drive is taking place at all Verde Valley Snap Fitness locations and several other locations throughout the month, collecting new men’s and women’s white socks of any size for local homeless individuals.

“Each night in the United States, an estimated 600,000 people live on the streets,” SAHA stated on the event’s website. “This October, we want 2 million people to show that even a small act of love, such as donating a pair of socks, can make a big difference in the lives of our neighbors who are homeless.”

SAHA usually collects between 700 to 1,000 pairs of socks during the event, but volunteers are hopeful this year’s numbers will be higher given the number of businesses and organizations that have been contacting the nonprofit about the program, SAHA cofounder Laurie Moore said.

“People see socks as a simple item [but] it’s one of the most important items that SAHA distributes,” Moore said. “For people that are living a homeless lifestyle, a lot of times they don’t have the ability to wash their clothing. But many people are forced to wear their socks for days and weeks and, unfortunately, sometimes months at a time.”

SAHA receives an annual donation of 5,000 pairs of antimicrobial black socks from the apparel company Bombas.

Additional socks from the community are still needed because SAHA typically gives at least five pairs at a time to homeless residents and more socks allow for more personal preferences for those in need.

The Center for Disease Control recommends changing socks at least once a day for controlling odor and to prevent or control athlete’s foot.

“When that [doesn’t happen] it becomes not only uncomfortable, but it becomes a health issue,” Moore said. “Also many people in a homeless lifestyle are wearing their shoes through the night to prevent them from being stolen, or to keep their feet warm. That complicates the issue even more, so for comfort and health reasons socks are extremely important for SAHA to collect.”

This is SAHA’s busiest time of the year because of the coming winter, and the material and financial needs of the organization increases as temperatures begin to drop.

“We’ll then go right into the needed collections of the winter, items like sleeping bags, long underwear,” Moore said. “Then we have the community project around Christmas, where we’ll be collecting Christmas items and wrapping them again at the library. This time of year is about a lot of collections and distributions of winter survival gear.”

Funds are also needed for SAHA’s Code Blue project that provides hotel rooms to the unhoused when nighttime temperatures fall below 32 degrees Fahrenheit. Last year SAHA spent $42,000 on the program.

“We do not rent a room per person,” Moore said. “The rooms that we rent during Code Blue are generally filled [because] we have up to four people in a room … There’s other voucher systems where people get a voucher and they get a room and it’s not very cost-effective. We have designed this program [in such a way to enable] us to supervise the program much better.”

Since SAHA launched its mobile outreach bus at the end of July, Moore estimates that it has been serving about 20 people weekly. The bus isn’t currently on a regular schedule but is dispatched as needed when people reach out to SAHA. Moore anticipates it will begin a regular schedule starting in November.

Donations are being accepted at:

West Sedona Snap Fitness, 2081 W. State Route 89A, Sedona

Village of Oak Creek Snap Fitness, 7000 SR 179 Suite C200 & D200, Village of Oak Creek

Camp Verde Snap Fitness, 400 Finnie Flat Road, Camp Verde

Cottonwood Snap Fitness, 976 S. Main St., Cottonwood

St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church, 100 Arroyo Piñon Drive, Sedona

Christ Center Wesleyan Church, 280 Brewer Road, Sedona

Running River School, 580 Brewer Road, Sedona

The Restoration Room Massage and Bodywork, 1120 W. SR 89A, Suite B-3

Ms. Masaki Sushi Bar, 654 S. Main St., Cottonwood

Additional collection sites will be listed on SAHA’s social media throughout the month and a SAHA representative will be at the Sedona Public Library on Thursday, Oct. 19, from 6 to 7:30 pm in the Si Birch Community Room.

For more information, visit sedonahomeless.orghttp://www.sedonahomeless.org or contact Laurie Moore at (928) 978- 9387.