Giving Back is an essential part of our mission at John’s Crazy Socks. It is not enough to just sell stuff, we need to give back, to support others and share in the benefits we receive. During times of stress, Giving Back becomes all the more important. The first four months of 2020 have been tough for all of us and John’s Crazy Socks is no exception as our sales are down as a result of the virus, but we remain unwavering in our commitment to Give Back. Through the end of April, we had raised $63,062 for our charity partners in 2020. 

Our Giving Pack Program

A core aspect of our mission at John’s Crazy Socks is to demonstrate the capabilities and contributions of people with differing abilities. Our Giving Back Program helps us to achieve this mission. By donating to charities like the Special Olympics, the National Down Syndrome Society and the Autism Society of America, we enable them to do more work on behalf of people with intellectual disabilities. 

John Cronin, the co-founder and inspiration behind John’s Crazy Socks, initiated the Giving Back Program by committing to donate five percent of our earnings to the Special Olympics even before we opened for business. John is a Special Olympics athlete and knows first-hand the difference the Special Olympics can make in the lives of all involved.

Since opening, we have added a growing list of Awareness Socks and Charity Socks that raise money for our charity partners. These include our Down Syndrome Awareness Socks, which John designed, and our Autism Awareness Socks. John loves to hand deliver the donations and our staff celebrates when we announce our Giving Back totals for the month.  Due to the virus, we have not been able to make our usual in-person donations. 

Giving Back in the Time of the COVID-19 Pandemic

We have all been affected by the virus. We have used our mission as our North Star to lead us and our core values as the guides to keep us on course. We employ people with differing abilities and want to show the world what people with differing abilities can do. To fulfill this objective, we found a way to bring our colleagues back to work and we have put in place a rigorous safety program based on four components as recommended by the Center for Disease Control (CDS): 

• Screening everyone entering the building
• Wearing masks
• Maintaining social distance
• Practicing good hygiene – we are fanatical about washing hands

We have also extended our donations to support local food banks and support programs for essential workers and people hurt by the virus. 

What else can we do? We can make socks, so we made socks to honor and thank the frontline health care workers and to raise money to support them. We introduced Health Care Superhero Socks and This Superhero Wears Scrubs Socks to celebrate the work done by our frontline health care workers. These socks raise money for the American Nurses Foundation’s Coronavirus Response Fund and the Covid-19 Relief Fund at Good Samaritan Hospital Medical Center in John’s home, Long Island. We introduced those socks in late April and as of this writing, they have raised nearly $30,000. 

Changes in Our Donation Model

Over time, we added many charity partners with varying arrangements so that our Giving Back promise became confusing for customers and more complex to manage. Our good intentions were getting out of hand. To simplify things, John’s Crazy Socks will now donate a flat 10 percent from designated items to our charity partners.  The exceptions are for our Sock of the Month Program where we will continue to donate 5 percent of sales to the Special Olympics. 

We will mail the donation checks at the end of every quarter.  

Giving Back – May 2020 

This report covers sales and activities from January 1 through April 30, 2020.   

Giving Back to the Special Olympics 

We pledge 5 percent of our monthly earnings to the Special Olympics. While we will not know our earnings until after the year ends and our accountants close the books, we make also donate 5 percent of the sales from our Sock of the Month Club to the Special Olympics. In addition, each sale of Shark Socks and Polar Plunge Socks also results in a donation to the Special Olympics. 

Nothing makes us happier than giving back to charity. We work together with our charity partners to help raise awareness for their causes. Then we report on this activity for our customers. Without you, none of this would be possible. Thank you. 

If you have questions or would like to comment on this report, please let us know at service@JohnsCrazySocks.com.