BOSTON (WBZ NewsRadio) — Most teenagers are fast asleep at 8:00 a.m. on a freezing cold Sunday morning, but Sophia Casini is not like most teens.
The 13-year-old from Milton spent the morning dropping off thousands of pairs of socks to St. Francis House, a homeless day shelter on Boylston Street in Boston.
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"There’s so many, like, homeless people that just need clothes and that are just on the streets, like, struggling, so I feel like it’s just really nice to give back," Sophia told WBZ NewsRadio.
Sophia has been collecting and donating socks since she was four years old with a door-to-door sock drive she calls Socktober. In its inaugural year, Sophia donated just a few hundred pairs. This year's tally: 4,715.
"Socks are the number one requested item that they need at the shelter, so it’s really important that she does that and helps out," said Sophia's mother, Rachael Casini, who helps out alongside Sophia's grandmother, Nancy Sullivan.
"I am so blessed to have a grandchild who is so loving and giving and to help people in need," Sullivan said.
According to Rachael, her daughter's goal was to reach a total of 25,000 donated pairs of socks for the ten-year anniversary. Sophia wound up surpassing that goal with 26,701 pairs.
The group also donated 13 bags of clothes, scarves, hats, and gloves to St. Francis House, along with some duffle bags for the homeless to bring items back and forth between the day and night shelters.
WBZ's Suzanne Sausville (@WBZSausville) reports.