It started out as one parent’s wish to lend a hand with a sock drive at her children’s elementary school. What it has turned into 10 years later, well, not even the “crazy sock lady” herself can quite believe it.

“Did I think it would last 10 years? Absolutely not,” said Christine Alves, who has become the lead organizer for Socktober, the month-long donation drive that encourages the entire East Providence community to donate socks to the less fortunate that runs through the month of October. “Every year, do I say it’s going to be my last year? Absolutely. But then here we are.”

Back in 2014, Alves wasn’t working for the school district, but she knew she could help with the sock drive going on at Orlo Avenue Elementary School. With a goal of 400 pairs of socks, Alves got to work rallying friends and family.

They wound up with around 1,500 pairs.

“Now, I’m a very competitive person,” she said. “So imagine if I asked the community to help.”

Alves got in touch with local community groups, banks, and even took to social media the following years, putting out wish lists through Amazon. It earned the attention of a much wider audience, including people who had no connection to East Providence, and has generated thousands of pairs of donated socks throughout the years. Since 2014, the phenomenon has spread to nearly all the elementary schools in East Providence, along with its two middle schools.

Then she started working for East Providence High School as an assistant within the special education department, and her reputation preceded her request to the administration to continue the tradition there.

“They said go ahead, do what you do,” she said. “We already know you’re the crazy sock lady. That’s the name I’ve been dubbed. And it stuck. I'll take it, I’ve been called worse.”

Alves, who in September was named the State Education Support Professional of the Year for 2025 by the National Education Association Rhode Island, said that bringing the charitable tradition to the high school has been particularly rewarding because she has been able to see firsthand that the teenaged students have been eager to contribute — even if it took a little incentivizing at first.

She worked with her colleagues, like counselor Richard Silva, to give out raffle tickets for various prizes for bringing in socks. She got the administration to put up a free yearbook as a raffle prize, awarding tickets for each pair of socks brought in. Now, she says the students are reveling in the opportunity to help out.

“When a kid comes and brings me 44 pairs of socks and says ‘I had to wait until I got paid’, that shows something,” she said. “It shows that ripple effect of kindness, it’s contagious. How you can do one random act of kindness, and it feels so good that everybody wants to jump on board. And that’s what’s happened with Socktober.”

The community at large is now involved in a big way. There are donation boxes at every Centreville Bank in Rhode Island, at Jules Hope Chest, Cynthia Cabana Realty, and McShortagee’s Market in Riverside. The East Providence Police Department also gets competitive within their ranks to see who can bring in more socks, according to Alves. Then there are the countless individuals who donate on their own accord.

It’s a community-wide commitment that is not surprising in the least to the lifelong East Providence resident.

“There’s this thing called Townie Pride,” she said. “And we say Townie Pride never sleeps. If there’s a need, we help. And if we can’t help, we find somebody who can.”

This year is shaping up to be the most fruitful donation drive yet. While the tally won’t be finalized until Thursday — when Alves gives students the opportunity to get an hour of community service time by sorting and counting the massive piles of pairs — she has already gathered 3,285 pairs in her own home, filling up an entire spare bedroom.

“I have a feeling that once I get all the numbers from the community members and count the ones (at the school), this will probably be my highest year,” Alves said. “We will probably get to 6,000.”

Alves said it has always been important for her to give back. She has instilled that value in her children too, taking them in gratitude car trips to Kennedy Plaza and Broad Street in Providence to hand out socks from their car to the homeless and less fortunate. The socks collected also go to a variety of nonprofits and local charities. “The socks really go to anybody. Anybody who needs it,” Alves said.

Asked what motivates her to continue to take on the logistical challenge of pulling off the massive drive, Alves said it was about leaving behind a positive legacy.

“God forbid I croak tomorrow, I want people to remember me as always the person willing to give back to those who are less fortunate than myself,” she said. “I am lucky enough to be able to go and ask anyone for assistance, and I would get it. I’m lucky enough to have three kids of my own who have now decided to do different community service acts to help our community. I want to make my kids proud, as well as the community I live in.”