Garrettsville – We expect certain qualities from a leader: A bold vision, an inspirational plan, and discipline to see the project through to the end. Ultimately, a great leader provides a measurable, impressive outcome and a new goal to further the original vision. What we don’t expect is all of these qualities from a 7-year-old boy.
And yet, 7-year-old Aiden Burns from Windham successfully launched a charity sock collection drive for the homeless called Socks From Santa early in the holiday season. The son of Zach and Angela Burns, he managed to inspire his family, schoolmates, area businesses and newspapers, and even regional TV and radio personalities to spread the word and help to collect more pairs of socks than he had originally hoped for. By December 19, Aiden had collected 1,500 pairs of socks and felt overwhelmed by the response he was getting from all over northeast Ohio, his mom reported.
The sock donations just kept pouring in, assisted by convenient drop-off locations at Blazin’ Bills Restaurant in Hiram and Kepich Ford in Garrettsville, where the challenge was to fill the bed of a red Ford truck with new socks. Aiden also spent the $140 he raised on the Socks From Santa GoFundMe page to purchase additional warm socks. On December 28, Aiden visited Haven of Rest, bringing 2,800 pairs of socks to the homeless, far surpassing his original goal of collecting 500 pairs.
Aiden originally got the idea to collect socks for the homeless from his grandmother, who toured the Haven of Rest and did a clothing and food drive for them over Thanksgiving. She told Aiden how sad it was and that they ran out of socks to hand out. “She asked me if I wanted to do something to collect the socks and we came up with the Socks From Santa. I am Santa and my little brothers Camden and Landon wanted to help too.”
What began as a wishful hope became much more impactful than ever expected. Aiden’s aunt said, “The spin-off effect of his efforts are just showing Aiden how if you make an effort to help other people and ask for others’ help that there are so many caring people out there. He is amazed every time someone else gives him socks. He gets really excited about it.”
When asked how he would sum up the experience, Aiden simply said, “I think it’s nice to do things for other people and I liked helping people stay warm.” As for next holiday season, Aiden added, “I plan to do another sock drive next year but I am going to get even more socks because my little brother is going to help me.”
This 7-year-old boy reminds us all that great achievements start as a simple desire to help others, and that modest plans can become bold game-changers when you inspire those around you to make a small contribution to a worthy cause… even if you’re just a kid. As author Marianne Williamson said, “Nothing liberates our greatness like the desire to help, the desire to serve.”
