Here at Complete New England Online Magazine we try and bring you stories that not only speak to places to visit in our beautiful region but the people as well.

Today I bring you a story that shows our community spirit and that we do some of our best work during the toughest of times. People and companies band together to help out families in need.

Being in need during the summer is bad enough, but in a New England winter it can be life threatening. Keeping warm is a constant battle and so when we heard about the Vermont community banding together to keep kids warm by providing special winter socks we decided to let our readers know as well.

The following is an article written by Jim Boylan and I republish it in its entirety here.

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For the second winter Vermont’s five Community Action agencies teamed up with Blue Cross Blue Shield of Vermont and the Cabot Hosiery Mills of Northfield, Vermont to distribute thousands of pairs of brand new made in Vermont socks to low income Vermont kids. This year the distribution of 11,500 pairs of kid’s socks to the Community Action Agencies began on the morning of December 21st   the first day of winter.

The Blue Socks for Kids Project is an effort of Blue Cross Blue Shield’s Vermont Caring Foundation to help low income Vermont families get through the tough winter months.

The Blue Socks for Kids Project was developed by the Vermont Caring Foundation whose mission is to advance and improve the health of all  Vermonters, particularly children and teenagers. The Foundation seeks to fulfill its mission by raising and distributing funds to support local programs whose primary purpose is health education, prevention, research, promotion and/or improvement.

The Foundation was seeking a project that would impact a large number of kids across the state at one time. They looked at research which showed that one of the items low income and homeless families say they need, but often have trouble affording, are good winter socks.

Blue Cross decided to provide low income Vermont families with free children’s socks. They approached Cabot Hosiery Mills with the idea and Cabot was brought on board to manufacture socks made from blue merino wool specifically for the Project. Thus the Blue Socks for Kids Project was born.

Both of the firms in this effort are local Vermont companies with a history of serving and employing Vermonters.

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Vermont is an independent Vermont based non-profit corporation governed and operated by Vermonters. It has served Vermont for more than 60 years and is the state’s oldest health insurer. Blue Cross Blue Shield provides coverage to some 180,000 Vermonters, including several thousand who are enrolled in the Catamount Health Plan. The company employs 350 Vermonters.

Cabot Hosiery Mills began in 1978 when the Cabot family took over an old mill building in Northfield and began manufacturing socks under the Cabot name. A new modern 55,000 square foot plant was built in 1995, a mile from the old mill building. The new building allowed Cabot to increase production and become much more efficient.

Cabot’s 70 plus employees now produce more than four million pairs of socks annually. These socks are sold under a number of private label brands such as Talbots, Orvis, Brooks Brothers and L.L.Bean as well as its own Cabot & Son brand. The firm also manufacturers socks for the U.S. military, including the Marines and Special Forces.

The newest addition to the Cabot line is the “Darn Tough Vermont” label, a premium, all-weather performance sock knitted of 100 percent merino wool. Cabot is the only sock company in Vermont and the Northeast and is one of the last sock manufacturers in the United States.

Merino wool was selected because it is soft and helps regulate temperature by wicking away moisture from the feet. In fact, merino wool played an important role in the history of Vermont. In the early 1800s many Vermont farmers began raising Merino sheep to supply New England’s growing textile industry.

By 1837 there were more than a million merino sheep grazing Vermont fields. The Blue Socks are individually packaged and labeled with a Cabot and Caring Foundation label.

When Blue Cross looked around for the best vehicle to distribute the socks statewide they turned to the Vermont’s five Community Action Agencies.

The five: Central Vermont Community Action Council, Champlain Valley Office of Economic Opportunity, Bennington Rutland Opportunity Council, Community Action in Southwestern Vermont,  Northeast Kingdom Community Action, and Southeastern Vermont Community Action serve low income folks across the entire state and are in a perfect position to get Blue Socks to those kids most in need. Kevin Goddard the Vice President for External Affairs at Blue Cross said “We chose the Community Action agencies because they know the community, know the needs and have to personnel to do an excellent job.”

The Blue Socks Project is a true community effort involving the two Vermont firms and the five CAAs to help low income Vermont children to stay warm during the winter. It is what folks mean when they say “Vermont Makes it Special”.

The Vermont Caring Foundation provides funds for the materials and Cabot provides the manufacturing and the Community Action Agencies provide the feet on the ground to get the socks distributed. Last year, the Blue Socks for Kids Project delivered 10,000 pairs of socks. This year the Blue Socks for Kids Project was able to increase that number to 11,500 pairs in four children’s sizes.

This year the project was kicked off when Vermont’s Governor Jim Douglas, Blue Cross Blue Shield president Don George and Hal Cohen, Executive Director of Central Vermont Community Action Council helped the crew at the Cabot factory in Northfield load the first truck that would deliver boxes of Blue Socks for Kids to CAAs around the state.

Hal Cohen said “Vermont’s Community Action Agencies are pleased to again take the lead in distributing the Blue Socks. We are seeing increased economic need this winter and these socks provide some help to the families and kids that we serve.”

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Thank you Jim.

If you’d like to know more about this activity then you can find information at their web site here: http://www.bcbsvt.com/visitor/CommunityInvolvement/BlueSocks/index.html

Another New England post by one of our writers is being prepared right now so be sure to visit again or just subscribe to our RSS Feed here and get notified automatically of events and news.

Yankee Traveler
Staff Writer
New England Online Magazine

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