San Jose Mercury News
WHY THE VALLEY GIVES THANKS
November 22, 2007
Section: Editorial
Edition: Morning Final
Page: 18A

MARIA SHAO, Mercury News

This Thanksgiving, when some 300 people are served turkey dinners at two InnVision homeless shelters in San Jose, each of them also will get several pairs of warm socks for the winter.

It's all thanks to Jennifer Knickerbocker, 30, who organized a ''sock drive'' to collect used and stray socks for the needy. Knickerbocker, an intern at Cisco, came up with the idea for her MBA class at San Jose State. She hooked up with InnVision and enlisted more than 15 local employers to collect workers' socks.

She also organized volunteers to sort and bundle the socks with gift ribbons. When my family and I went to help, we were astounded at the heaps of socks -- about 10,000 pairs -- that covered tables and sofas. InnVision plans to distribute the socks throughout the holiday season.

One person can do a world of good by coming up with a simple idea and acting on it. I'm grateful for people like Jennifer Knickerbocker who can turn a simple concept into something powerful that helps the community.

-- Maria Shao