Operation Undies exploded this year, but in a good way. What began as a simple collection of items with an emphasis on socks and underwear has transformed into a massive charity drive which involved hundreds, maybe even a thousand people.
Operation Undies benefits my sweet migrant friends at the Centro de la Familia Headstart in Providence Utah. I found this organization in 2009 when my friend from years past, who is a teacher there, sent out a mass e-mail to all her friends and family asking for some help with a few families with some especially dire needs.
I happily organized my family including my siblings to meet the needs of a singular family at Christmas. Collecting items gave me a wonderfully addictive feeling. After dropping our items off to my friend I learned more about the school and the desperate needs all the students at the school had.
I planned better the next year and brought my ward in by collecting used clothing from my ward members. I also responded when the owner of the dance studio where my children take lessons asked if anyone knew of a Christmas service project the studio could support. The dancers and their families donated more than 100 toys for the kids. In addition I pestered my facebook and regular friends and collected 140 packs of new socks and underwear in less than a week’s time.
The turn-out from these collections was amazing. I was elated as I filled my mini-van entirely up. I felt great all December long as I collected and thought about the families that would benefit from the collection. I felt especially great about the socks and underwear we were providing to kids who only had a pair or two of underwear. In many cases their underthings were threadbare, full of holes or were way too large.
We dropped off the load. The teachers at the school were stunned with our load. They were not expecting it and didn’t really even seem to know we were coming. I’m sure I heard one of them say… “Now, who are you?” “Now, what is all this stuff?”
I was like… “What? You don’t know me? Well, you better get to know me because I’ll be here every year, and next year I’m coming in a moving van.”
They were like… “Okay crazy, see you never.” And then Operation Undies was born.
The Collection
In September I made my first call to the school. “Hello, I am Kristin Sokol the crazy lady who brought dozens of bags of clothes and socks and underwear last year…Yeah, that’s me. What are your biggest needs this year?”
They told me that in the past they’ve had an organization generously donate new coats to every child in the center. This year the group was not planning to fill this need. So, they needed about 100. I was a little overwhelmed at the idea of coming up with 100 new coats. In fact, I told them that I was sure I could NOT come up with 100 new coats. I thought I might be able to scrape together 50 used coats. They assured me that they would be very satisfied with whatever I brought and that whatever it was would be well needed and used.
I was on my phone in the car during this conversation. After I hung up, I sat there for a minute and thought…there must be a way. I assured myself that I COULD do this. Then, Tiffany Dance Company popped into my head since that’s where I was driving to pick up my daughter from her dance lesson. Once I arrived, I asked Tiffany if she would be willing to do coats. New coats. She said sure without batting an eye and only asked how many. I told her up to 100. She took a breath but said she’d try and thought she could get close.
A few minutes after I left there a friend of mine called. Her daughters are serious competitive dancers at another studio, Elite. In passing I asked if their dance studio did a Christmas service project to which she responded yes.
I told her about the need for new coats. She said she’d mention it to her dance people next time she was in there. To my surprise, she called me only an hour or so later with a big fat YES. I was stunned.
This task, which completely overwhelmed me had been single handedly completed within only a few hours. That’s when I really started to see the potential this project had.
It’s a worthy and needy organization that helps hardworking people and sweet children. Who wouldn’t want to help these people? Answer, no one.
Tiffany Dance Company
Elite Dance Academy
Love 2 Learn Preschool
Shining Star Preschool
Angie Barker’s Preschool
Merrick Bank
Grandview Neighborhood Christmas Social
Copper Oaks Relief Society
Schmidt Family and Friends
Hamilton Family
SEO.com
Peterson Family
Olson/Jeffery’s Family
Saunders/Storm Family
Saunders/Storm’s sisters ward who sponsored 5 more families
My Facebook Friends
Kicks for Kids Charity
Tyler Staten’s Eagle Project
Robinson Real Estate Company aka Utah Dave
Various generous donors
The relief and donations they provided came in several different forms. In all we ended up with…
· Enough gently used clothing via the Copper Oaks Relief Society to outfit the entire school several times. Here's some of my favorite sisters who helped with most the real work of collecting all our used items.
· More than 70 blankets and over 100 packs of socks and underwear via Tyler Staten’s Eagle Scout Project.
This is the only photo of Tyler I got somehow.
But look at all these blankets that he not only collected fabric for, but also tied himself or with the help of other youngsters he organized.
· More than 500 packs of underwear via a combination of groups including:
The employees at SEO.com.
This is one of my favorite and best roomies ever who works at SEO. She even delivered the load to my house. SEO for your information also sponsored a family at the school for Sub for Santa. I can't believe how generous these folks were.
Love 2 learn—Shining Star and Angie Barker’s Preschools. 
Unfortunately I only got one photo so this represents all the little preschool kids who pack sock and undies to school to donate to other preschoolers. So sweet!
My Facebook and real friends. How I didn't take a photo of all the donations that were put in my box is beyond me. But I did get donations and I was very happy with each delivery. If you came to my house I wasn't here to thank you in person, consider this your...THANK YOU!
The Grandview Neighborhood Christmas Social
This was the brainchild of Heidi Vawdrey, pictured above with her husband. She invited her neighborhood over to her house for Christmas cheer and snacks and invited all who wished to participate to drop off packages of socks and underwear in lieu of exchanging neighbor gifts with each other. Brilliant. For your information, I didn't know Heidi. She's one of several people who heard about this and found me.
· 112 pairs of NEW shoes via Merrick Bank and Kicks for Kids Charity.
Here are some employees at Merrick Bank graciously posing for a photo with the shoes they kindly bought.
I may also mention that with the corporate match Merrick offered to cash donations, they also donated $650.
I had a great time carting their donations out and loading them in my van.
It was all so very unexpected. My brother Scott who works there mentioned it to the HR department and they decided to take it up as their cause. Amazing. 
Here's my brother in front of their wall of giving. Employees came and took a paper with a shoe size to buy. Very cute, very effective.
· 110 NEW coats via Tiffany Dance Company and Elite Academy.
Here's Tiffany and part of her crew.
And Elite and their beautiful dancers.
Robinson Real Estate Company AKA Utah Dave most generously donated the use of one of their company trucks to me, a total stranger to them. How did I arrange this? I asked. Go figure. 
Dave was on a very important phone call when I picked up and dropped off the truck. I'm sure he was making big multimillion dollar deals--and keeping his clients very happy. I was not able to meet him, so one of his employees came and posed for me. Thanks Jeanette!
The Schmidt family and friends collection. 24 boxes! Plus a double bed, a dresser and a nightstand. Amazing!
The personally delivered their load and had the most magical experience.
They decided to scale back their family's gifts this year and to sponsor a family in need instead. Love it. What a collection!
So…we had a sleigh and a garage full of items. Growing by the hour.
Then, all the boxes were inventoried, and loaded up with the help of Steve and some of our favorite and best neighbor men.
They were waiting for us in front of the school when we arrived. Tears were shed (mine). Boxes were moved.
Actually we had about this many people unloading the truck. Some of these folks were teachers at the school too.
It was really fun to take this photo. I just LOVE giving away other people's money.
We got to mingle and play with a group of kids while they played at indoor “recess.”
I got to go in and help serve lunch to my former mission companion’s preschool class.
While I was in there I met a few of the children who I knew would be the recipient of Sub for Santa presents. I got the chance to tell a few of them...“I know you’ve been a good boy this year and that Santa has a lot of presents for you.” They looked at me as if thet doubted that was true. They’ll see though. Santa gonna hook them up!
I would have taken her home with me, except for the she already has loving parents business, like that. She was so adorable and sweet and loving even though she had never met me. 
It was such a pleasure to meet and be with these kids. I LOVE them so very much after collecting things for them all year.
I toured the entire school and at least peaked in at all the classrooms. Among my favorite rooms was the infant and baby room. 
It was nap time so the babies for the most part were sleeping. This little guy however was NOT sleeping. He wanted me. 
He saw me and wanted me to hold him. He was so squishy. I just wanted to keep him forever so I could squish him any time I wanted. I LOVE him.
It was so sweet and serene.
The teachers told me a little about each of the babies and what their families and family life was like. It was easy to see that the teachers and staff really think a lot of the parents of these children.
We were able to walk them out to the bus and see them off. It was so sweet. 
Here is one of my former mission sisters who is now one of the directors at the school.
It was really a neat and unexpected experience for us. At the end of our visit my beautiful friend Liz and I just looked at each other and telepathically connected and told each other that all the stress, worry and effort we’d put into this project was totally worth it and we’d totally do it again next year.
Steve’s says he’s terrified. He should be.
On the way out, the staff asked us if we’d like to make one more stop before we left. We had brought with us gifts for two of the 12 Sub for Santa families. They asked us if we’d like to personally deliver one. YES!
My cousin Margie Peterson’s extended family sponsored this family and we had the opportunity to take the gifts. It was one of the funnest things I have ever done. I felt really bad that Margie and her family weren’t there. I feel like I stole this moment from them. I should have insisted that they deliver it themselves.
On the way over to the family’s apartment they told us more about them. This is one of their best families. The parents have had really hard lives and have done a lot to take care of their children and to earn a living. They said that the family would easily qualify for food stamps, but the father insists that they not receive hand-outs. He instead has taken on a second job (and sometimes third) to make ends meet.
None of our Sub for Santa families had any idea they were being sponsored. This family looked as stunned as anyone ever could at our stream of gifts and boxes flowing into their meager and empty apartment. 
You can see from the pictures here that they really didn’t know what to say or how to respond. The mother, asked the CDLF staff if she could hug me. 
They were really grateful, even though they had no idea what we had brought or why. It was a really special experience.
Before we knew it we were on our way back to return the Dave-moblie and then back home to really and thoroughly enjoy the holiday season. It was a great way to spend the first part of the holidays. I really have to hand it to everyone who helped me with this project. There are SO many of you. My deepest most sincere thanks. I wish all of you a Merry MERRY Christmas and such a happy new year.
We were invited back to the preschool Christmas party a week later. We eagerly returned excited to see all the parents of the children we had met.
We arrived right on-time, but we were among the last to arrive. All the staff whom I have worked and coordinated efforts with were busily hosting the party serving food and making it all happen.
We took the last seats in the room which were right in front of the speaker which was blaring Mexican polka music. It was really...fun. I was fun to see all the families we had worked so hard to support. As we sat there we realized just how real the communication gap was between us and them. Steve does speak a second language, Czech. Not real useful tonight. I do speak a little Spanish, but I mainly know verbs thanks to the several years of Spanish I had in High School and College. Unfortunately it was not enough to understand or communicate with these lovely people especially since I couldn't really understand a thing Steve even said thanks to the aforementioned Mexican Polka music.
We were served a delicious meal of Tamales, the best I have ever had. We also had a variety of other foods. All equally delicious.
The real treat was seeing each of the families receive a big black bag filled with the donations that we received from all of you. Some families got multiple bags. Here's some of the best photos.
At the end we were ready to leave I was saying my good-byes to Tom, the director of the school, when I was told they were asking for me on stage. I of course didn't know that since I only know the useful Spanish words like discotec and the word for library and wrestling. It's amazing what the mind retains over the years.
While I stood on the stage they said all kinds of things. I couldn't understand any of it. I am told they told the audience that I was the one responsible for the donation that they were receiving. Then they presented me with a wrapped gift.
It was a digital photo frame pre-loaded with pictures of the school kids throughout the year. I was touched.
They also asked me to say something. So...I spoke into the microphone in English (since that's all I know). I told them there were thousands of people who cared about them and their children. 
I told them that it was all these people who cared about them that were the ones responsible for the donations. I was just the one who dropped them off. I told them they're were thousands of people who were glad they were here and that we appreciated the hard work they do everyday. (If anyone leaves me a comment on this post about illegal immigration I will personally come to your house and pinch your head off, so don't do it. I promise you don't want to start a discussion with me about illegal immigration especially not on this post, so DON'T). And yes, I cried the whole time I was speaking to them in English. I turned the microphone back over and they translated my whole sobbed speech. Then the crowd erupted in applause.
We left shortly after the on-stage experience. Before we left, the Almazan family, both mother and father, the family we had delivered gifts to the week before, came up to us. They wanted to speak to us, but they couldn't because we're both not smart enough to speak Spanish. They settled for a hand shake. They shook Steve's hand and mine in the most meaningful way. I will never forget the look of gratitude they had in their eyes. I wish I could have known what they wanted to say. I wish I could have told them that it wasn't me who provided the gifts they had received.
We drove home, so grateful for the experience and so grateful to so many people who made this happen. It was a lot of work for a great many people. I hope I have remembered to recognize everyone who helped with this project, but I know that I must have forgotten to mention some of you. There was a lot to keep track of. Just know that I know that I have the best most special friends and neighbors maybe anywhere in the world. I hope all of you had a Merry Christmas and your dreams came true. I wish you also the BEST of new years. 2012 will be the best year EVER!
