Clifford Grant is a vibrant man who loves a fun pair of socks. At the Rotary Club of White Rock’s 60th Anniversary celebration in May, Clifford came up with the idea to donate $50 to the Sources South Surrey/White Rock Food Bank Resource Centre for every pair of feet donning unboring (not plain, black) socks.
“I was the official greeter outside, so I said to the men as they were coming in, you’re not going to get past me until I check your socks!” Clifford said.
“I was feeling pretty good about all these fun socks coming in and I thought a function like this where everyone’s happy should have something candid.”
And so, just as the evening was calming down, without checking with anyone or acquiring a microphone, Clifford called out,
“All men who have fun socks on come up and I shall donate $50 to the Food Bank!”
Eight people (including Clifford) came forward displaying their fancy hose, making his spontaneous donation a total of $400!
“We rolled up our pants and put our feet on the chairs, so all our fun socks were there,” he said.
The event was not a fundraiser, Clifford noted, but there were a few silent auction items and it was decided that any money raised that night would be donated to the Food Bank, so he felt it was an appropriate action.
“When I do something like this, like fundraising at the spur of the moment, it’s a fun thing, not something I’ve thought about. In Rotary, we often do that, and I know most of the people I know from Sources are cut from the same cloth. Sometimes we’ve just got to do things and have some fun doing it,” Clifford said with a smile. “If it causes some embarrassment, just roll with the punches. Just roll with it.”
Since the event, Clifford has tracked down another friend wearing fun socks and added another $50 to his donation, bringing it to $450 for the Food Bank. Thank you, Clifford!
In addition to being a Rotarian, Clifford has been volunteer manager of the Dolly Parton Imagination Library for five years, a free program brought to our community through a partnership between Sources, Scotiabank-White Rock and the Kiwanis Club of White Rock & South Surrey. The Imagination Library helps encourage education, literacy and a love of reading in pre-school age children. Each month, a new, carefully selected book is mailed directly to the registered child’s home in their name until their fifth birthday. To donate to and/or learn more about the Imagination Library, contact Clifford at 604.542.0170 or cliffordg@shaw.ca.
Sources is thankful to have a great relationship with the Rotary Club of White Rock, who have been tremendous supporters of Sources for many years. Recently, the club generously donated $50,000 to install an elevator at the Food Bank that is much appreciated by staff and volunteers: Read more. Also, Sources became a Corporate Member of the White Rock Rotary club in June: Read more.