What many people see as just a smelly piece of laundry is an item desperately needed by others. Socks are one of the most needed things in homeless shelters across the country, yet they are typically one of the least donated.

Last month, freshman public health major Ingeborg Hyde organized a campus-wide sock drive that collected 250 pairs of used socks for donation.

Hyde began her sock drive project when she was in eighth grade. She named the project Happy Feet and has continued it every year since. She continued the project at Tulane as her personal leadership project in the Freshman Leadership Program.

To gain support for the project, she reached out to faculty members and greek and student organizations. She put empty boxes all across campus and was pleasantly surprised with the support she received.

“When I went to go pick it up people had actually bought new socks,” Hyde said, “[That] was something I didn’t ask for — it was definitely above and beyond and was really really nice.”

After counting and sorting the socks, Hyde donated her largest collection yet to the Ozanam Inn, a homeless shelter downtown.

“What I like about the institution is that they don’t refuse service to anyone,” Hyde said, “A homeless person could go or Barack Obama could go and they wouldn’t refuse service to them.”

As a public health major, Hyde said she wants to dedicate her life to helping others. She said she has discovered a passion for helping people stay healthy.

These happy socks like the view from Gibson, but they can’t wait to see everyone today on McAlister from 12-1:30!!!

A post shared by Happy Feet (@happyfeet_tu) on Mar 9, 2018 at 7:13am PST

“I am also a marketing minor, and what I really would like to do is combine them both,” Hyde said.  “As of right now, I am interested in a field called public health communications which is basically helping get the word out — like creating flyers or the graphics behind public health.”

Hyde hopes Happy Feet will continue to grow on campus. She plans to carry out this drive every year and possibly pass the project down to future members of FLP.

With this year’s Happy Feet project being Hyde’s most successful yet, she said she is hopeful the project will continue to grow and gain traction on this campus.

“The future is bright for Happy Feet,” Hyde said.