Happy Souls Sock Ministry is the community service project started by the First Baptist Church of Durant in Plaint City, Fla. 

The goal of Happy Souls is simple, they donate free socks to children at the local Hillsborough County Elementary School and to others who are in need. In the past year, they have given away more than 5,000 pairs of socks.

This unique form of ministry is having a profound impact on the lives it touch.  Summer Rain, the organizer of Happy Souls, spoke with the Tampa Bay Times to discuss the positive feedback they have received.

“A guidance counselor at one of the schools we give to said a girl told her she was not getting made fun of anymore because she didn’t have to wear old socks and her feet didn’t smell,” Rain said. “We are showing them love and hopefully they will grow up to give love to others.”

Happy Souls, which works alongside the Plant City Junior Women’s Club, a organization that donates shoes to students, gives each student six pairs of fun, colored or youth-themed socks.

The sock distribution is not only confined to schools, however.  Happy Souls members hand out socks to Plant City’s homeless and those in need in other locations.  Rain mentioned  that she and her family gave away socks to people in Daytona Beach while they were on vacation.

Next year Happy Souls plans to extend its program to students in middle and high schools, as well as supply backpacks to the annual backpack give away hosted by the Christian radio station The Joy FM.

Every Sunday morning, the children of the church take up an offering to go towards the Happy Souls ministry, with the youngest volunteer coming in at the tender age of three.  The church also receives monetary and sock donations from people outside of the church.

For more information or to donate, visit www.kwynneministries.com or call (813) 737-2556.