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Young Virginia Beach girl collects more than 1,000 socks for the homeless

Posted at 9:22 PM, Nov 21, 2018
and last updated 2018-11-21 23:23:30-05

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. - The fluffy sock idea sparked two years ago when a huge tornado came through and wiped out almost everything while little 6-year-old Carolina Hinson and her family were down in Georgia.

Carolina’s parents took it as a learning opportunity for their children.

“My husband and I really try to expose our kids to everything – good and bad - that this world has to offer. That hit her (Carolina) pretty hard," says Joy Hinson, Carolina's mother.

Over the years, the Hinson family has donated toys and little items to help people who are in need. This year was no different when Carolina thought to give socks to people in the homeless community when she noticed they weren’t wearing them.

Related: Pajama Jam: How you can take action to help collect pajamas for children in need

“I didn’t want people to not have anything," says Carolina.

So, with some help from her proud family, they took the idea to Facebook.

"It went over to 1,000 people. We’re originally from Boston, so we got a lot from New England and many people from Virginia. We got socks from Japan, Italy, Ireland the other day. They keep coming in and coming in – it’s amazing," says Joy.

Every bag has two pairs of socks, and they are all labeled under "men," "women" and "children." Different designs and different colors, the socks will be given out to people on Thanksgiving Day.

Related: Virginia Boy Scout is a popcorn mogul who is hungry to help others

And with a goal of 200, you can imagine the thrill Carolina's experiencing when people donated more than 1,000 pairs of socks over just a couple of weeks.

“I’m excited that they finally get something," says Carolina.

Socks are spilling over in the Hinson living room, delivered from places all across the world. It might just be a new tradition for this family: Helping people just trying to stay warm for the holidays.