Since early 2018 amazing people have been purchasing our Milk and Cookie socks (also known as #JimSocks), direct from Friday Sock Co., and from local small-businesses to support Jim Button and his family in their quest to start North America’s first chair in Pediatric Psychosocial Oncology and Survivorship at UofC’s Cummings School of Medicine. This month (April) we were incredibly happy to donate $6,500.00 to the cause, raised by selling over 1,000 pairs of #JimSocks in 2019. But that's not all. The UofC made the decision to match the donation with an additional $2500.00! That's a total of $9000 raised. Just wow.
The Story Behind #JimSocks:
#JimSocks were born out of the desire to shift the conversation from “how are you? How’s it going? How are you feeling?” while supporting someone who is going through a rough time of life. Instead of engaging in this standard discourse, one that someone in the position of living day-by-day would rather not be having, Jim Button, local Calgary celebrity, co-founder of Village Brewery, philanthropist and entrepreneur who had been (and still is) battling cancer along with Calgary musician, Michael Bernard Fitzgerald (MBF), found a new way to simply say “I am thinking about you,” by sending each other photos of their socks. “The photos became a nice funny way to say, hey, I love you, I’m thinking of you, I’m here for you, I care about you, I’m with you, I put these on and I thought of you,” says MBF. With this intention in mind, local TV host, Dave Kelly, and Founder of Friday Socks, Adam Thompson joined the cause. These four friends set out to make this simple gesture come to life through #JimSocks. You can read more about #Jimsocks in the Gather with Jim BLOG (which if you haven't checked out, you definitely should).
“When the guys told me what they were doing I immediately knew I wanted to be involved. I felt for the story, loved what Jim was doing, and knew there was no better way to get Friday more involved,” says Adam (Owner of Friday Sock Co). “I am blown away by the immense support that Calgary has shown us so far, and I am excited to see what we can keep doing with #JimSocks.” Not only is it a way to contribute to a cause Jim is so passionate about, but it’s also a way to share the love with the people in our lives who could use a funny sock photo. This donation this March is only the beginning and the campaign slated to continue well into 2020. You can purchase your mismatched Milk and Cookies Socks here. 50% of the proceeds will continue to go towards Jim’s efforts to raise $5-million and create a Chair for Pediatric Psychosocial Oncology and Survivorship to research and build programs for kids and endowed research.
Blog by Kristy Archibald of Pedestrian.agency