Hats off, once again, to the Marquette Alternative High School’s annual Rock the Socks program, which collects donated pairs of socks for distribution to area needy.

This year’s campaign collected 5,632 pairs. Local organizations St. Vincent de Paul, the Marquette Women’s Center, the D.J. Jacobetti Home for Veterans, Janzen House, Beacon House, the Room At The Inn, Salvation Army, the New Free Store in Harvey, the Forsyth Township Senior Center and area elementary schools were among this year’s recipients.

Marquette Alternative High School teacher Cindy DePetro, who helped organize the effort seven years ago, said participating in the program is positive for the students.

“The process of inviting schools and businesses, making fliers, involving the university and businesses, decorating drop-off boxes, posting reminders and fliers around town to get donations, counting donations, dividing our donations based on needs and delivering socks to the various organizations is special to me because I get to see the kids experience the entire process, from beginning to end,” DePetro said in an email. “They see the work, collaboration, giving and receiving parts of this campaign.”

You can’t solve all of society’s problems with volunteerism but you can make a difference in peoples’ lives. We salute DePetro and the students who participated in the program.