Giving Back Report for March 2017

John’s Crazy Socks had our biggest month yet in March 2017, and that means we raised more money for our charity partners than ever. We are ecstatic to announce that we raised $13,203.60 for our charity partners in March. Nothing makes us happier than to do for others. We report to our customers on our promise to give back each month. Here is what happened in March 2017. 

Our Giving Pack Program

From the beginning, we made a promise to give back. We committed upon opening to contribute five percent of our earnings to the Special Olympics. Since then, we have expanded our Giving Back Program through our awareness socks. We’re on a mission to spread happiness through our socks, and making sure that our customers know that each purchase will go to help others is part of the way we create happiness. What better joy than to purchase some great socks and know that part of your purchase will help our charity partners?  

Our co-founder and inspiration, John Cronin, has set the direction for our Giving Back Program. John always wants to do for others. Since John has Down syndrome, we selected charities that work with the disabled or have a special connection to our organization or family. We thank each customer for their generosity in supporting our business and our charity partners. 

Giving Back – March 2017

This report covers sales and activities from March 1 – March 31, 2017. We saw our overall sales take a dramatic increase which allowed us to raise more money for our charity partners. 

Giving Back to the Special Olympics

We have pledged to give 5 percent of our earnings to the Special Olympics. The good news is that we had a tremendous month of sales in March, but the business reality is that our spending increased even more as we scrambled to expand our hiring, equipment and inventory. We are still running in the red, though we expect to turn a profit by the end of the year.

Regardless of our situation, the Special Olympics are important to us – John is a Special Olympic Athlete as are several of our co-workers. (You can read about how one of our colleagues, Liam Mrotzek, won two Bronze Medals at the Special Olympics Winter World Games here.) We feel it is important to contribute to the Special Olympics immediately. We made a $500 contribution to the Special Olympics as part of this month’s Giving Back Program. There’s more good news, as we introduced a Shark sock in early April that will raise money for the Special Olympics (more on that below).

Our Dedicated Charity Socks

We have created a series of Dedicated Charity Socks as part of our Giving Back Program. Money from the sale of each pair of socks goes to the dedicated charity. The most important of these socks are the Awareness Socks. In March, we had four Dedicated Charity Socks, though we are expanding the number of charity socks (read below to learn how):

So how much did we give based on our March sales?

Additional Charity Activities in March 2017

On March 4, we held a Pop-Up Store Fundraiser to raise money for Makenzie Cadmus, a baby girl on Long Island struck with a horrible disease, epidermolysis bullosa. The condition creates painful blisters all over her skin. Part of the treatment requires Makenzie to be covered in bandages. Because the pain and itching leads her to pull at the bandages, her family uses socks to cover the bandages. Her family has incurred thousands of dollars in medical expenses and faces hundreds of thousands in medical bills in the future. We sent her socks and held a fundraiser that raised $814. You can read about the fundraiser here.

On March 28, John attended the annual National Down Syndrome Gala in Manhattan. (He looked great in the tux.). We donated $3,000 in Down Syndrome Awareness Socks for the evening that were distributed in gift bags to all attendees. NDSS is such an important organization to John, our family and our company, that we wanted to do anything we could to help them. When they asked if we would provide socks for the gift bags, we jumped at the chance. 

New Charity Initiatives

In April, we introduced a new sock: A Shark Sock for the Special Olympics. John designed these socks for the Commack Sharks, a Special Olympics team with which John runs track and plays basketball. Head Coach Joe Amadeo asked if we could make socks to match their new uniforms. John was insistent, so we created the socks. We now offer them to all our customers – they are good-looking socks – and $2 from each pair will go to the Special Olympics.

We are also developing a Williams Syndrome Awareness Sock that will be available by early May. Williams syndrome (WS) is a genetic condition characterized by medical problems including cardiovascular disease, developmental delays, and learning disabilities.  These often occur side by side with striking verbal abilities, highly social personalities, and an affinity for music. This condition affects 1 in 10,000 people, an estimated 20,000 to 30,000 people in the United States. It is known to occur equally in both males and females and in every culture. We will donate $2 from the sale of each pair of these beautiful socks to the Williams Syndrome Association.

Conclusion of the March Giving Back Report

We saw a spike in our sales in March mainly due to a viral video released by the media. That surge in orders has enabled us to make a similar surge in our charity contributions. Our charity socks raised $8,889.60 and other activities added $4,314 for a total of $13,203.60. 

The number of orders has cooled so far in April, but we know that the more we do for others, the better off we will be. We will keep spreading happiness through socks and believe that will enable us to benefit our charity partners. 

If you have questions or would like to comment on this report, please contact Mark at mxcronin@JohnsCrazySocks.com.

As always, we thank our customers and supporters. We do this for you and without you, we would have nothing.

 John Lee Cronin and Mark X. Cronin