Marisa Sheff On The Power Of Donating To Those Less Fortunate Face To Face

While it is amazing for brands to give away products on behalf of their customers, in founding Sock Footage, Marisa Sheff was hoping to take the same one-for-one giving model, one step further.

After 5+ years in the sock industry, where she learned that socks are one of the most needed, but least donated items at homeless shelters, she knew she wanted to find a way to give back to those less fortunate.

For each pair of socks purchased from Sock Footage, a free donation pair is provided to give back to someone in need. Marisa witnessed firsthand that being physically present in the donation process has the power to change lives, so she created the #PAYITFOOTWARD initiative in order to remove some of the stigma associated with homelessness. By sharing user-generated content of each person’s donation online, she believes that we can bring awareness to some of the challenges surrounding those living on the streets.

Marisa discusses problems faced by people experiencing homelessness, how socially minded businesses can help address these, and her advice for entrepreneurs beginning their own change journeys.

Highlights from the interview (listen to the podcast for full details)

[Indio Myles] - To start off, could you please share a bit about your background and what led to your work in social enterprise?

[Marisa Sheff] - I'm originally from Montreal, Quebec. I now live in Toronto, and my background from a schooling perspective was studying fashion communications. My last big project at a company was for a sock factory here in Toronto, where I learned that socks were one of the most needed and least donated items to homeless shelters. Most people aren't aware of that fact, and the reason is when you think about donating items to a shelter, often people are just clearing out their closets at the end of the season, throwing different items into a bag and bringing it to the shelter. Rarely do people think to go and buy something new. Unfortunately, a lot of shelters (at least in this area) won't accept used socks or underwear. For that reason, there's a bit of a shortage in those two areas. As you can imagine, if you're homeless, your primary mode of transportation is your feet. They will get you from point A to point B, whether that's your next meal or job interview. It's essential that you have proper foot attire. You can go through socks pretty quickly (and I don't know about you), but my sock drawer is full and I’m very fortunate. But if you only have one pair of socks, you're moving through them pretty quickly, and with the harsh winters here in Toronto, the weather comes into play and foot care is so important for the homeless community. If they fall into an infection, it can lead to potentially worse outcomes and it's really important to have proper foot care if you're living rough. My latest background is in creating socks, and when I learned that there was such a need for them, I wanted to go off on my own, start this company, and bake a give back component into our model.

It's not like we do donations once a year. It's every day, one for one. The difference between us and another brand out there that's doing a similar one for one giving model is that we've decided we want to provide the consumer with the option to give the socks themselves.

I think that's an important touch point that's been removed from other brands following that model. Understanding that not everyone's always comfortable with face-to-face giving, we give the option for them to either give themselves or for us to give on their behalf by choosing from a list of our partner charities we work with.

As the founder of Sock Footage, can you share a bit more about how the organisation operates and your impact to date?

With regards to Sock Footage, it initially launched in 2019 just before COVID-19 started. We launched with the website sockfootage.com, so if you wanted to purchase socks online, you would go onto our website and see a whole slew of different available styles. Actually, they're mostly funky socks; this includes everything from pizza, to football, to unicorns and we offer men's, women's and kids' styles. Essentially, when you check out a cart, you'll be prompted with a popup that will ask how you'd like to take care of the donation aspect of your purchase. As I mentioned before, you can either have your donation socks ship out with your order so you can give them face to face, or we can always facilitate the donation on your behalf. Additionally, something unique to our brand was introduced just after the website had launched.

This has been a passion project of mine for a while, but I'm proud to say we are the first in Canada to have a charitable sock vending machine we're piloting here in Toronto. It follows the same premise as the website; you purchase a pair of funky socks from the machine, a second pair of basic grey donation socks drop simultaneously and free of charge from a different spot in the machine, and then you have the option to either donate them onsite (in which case they'll go to a partner charity we've chosen for that specific location), or you can actually take them away with you and give face-to-face. It is based on the honour system; we wanted to give the consumer the option and empower them to do the right thing. If they do donate on site, there's actually a plexiglass donation box attached to the side of the machine where they can deposit the socks, and the design of this was very intentional. People can see physically where their donation is going. Even if they choose not to donate the socks face to face themselves, they're still taking it from the bottom of the vending machine and putting it into this plexiglass donation box on the side. In my mind they are still involved in the process, because again, it comes back to that connection or touch point where you want to be involved in the physical act of donating. Even if you're not comfortable with donating face-to-face, you still feel like you're involved in that experience.

How do you encourage people, whether they are funders, mentors, or early to late customers to engage with your social mission and entrepreneurial vision?

I think for me it's not just about selling socks. Obviously selling socks gets more socks to the people that need them most, but I think the education component has always been a big part of my mission. That's why we created this unique hashtag, which is #PAYITFOOTWARD instead of #payitforward. There's a domino effect of giving when you give in person, so that's why I created that. Essentially, we're encouraging people who want to donate face-to-face to document their experience, whether that's through a video diary, which is why the name Sock Footage was created. We want to know how does it feel to donate? Were you intimidated? Have you done this before? I think a lot of people at the end of the day are just intimidated. They don't want to approach someone, or they don't know how. I have a few examples. One primary example is my brother who lives in New York, and he has always been very charitable, but not into the ‘face-to-face’ charitable giving. The company that he worked for had a mandate where they had to be involved in volunteer activities, and so he reached out to see if he could purchase some socks. Normally, when he's purchased socks before, he chooses for me to donate on his behalf. But in this case, he switched his choice and decided for me to ship out the donation socks so he could give them out. Then he got intimidated and asked me, "what do I say to people, how do I approach someone?" I coached him a little bit, and one thing that I always share with any podcast that I do is that unfortunately homeless people only hear their name on average four times a year. I'm just going to let everyone sit with that for a second, because it's a very impactful statement.

I think everyone's so busy going about their day walking and looking at their phones, but they don't even take the time to acknowledge other people. Then one step further is if you are on the streets, nobody is asking you what your name is. Ever since I heard that statistic, I always make a point (even if I'm not going to give someone anything as I'm passing by) to either make eye contact, ask them their name or interact if I have a little bit more time. I said to my brother, just go up to someone, ask them their name, introduce yourself, and then ask them if they could use a fresh pair of socks. He lives in Manhattan, and he went out and started trying to find people that he could help, and he approached one gentleman and asked him if he could use a fresh pair of socks. This gentleman took off his shoes and showed my brother that he wasn't wearing any socks, and he said, "yes, I sure could," with a big smile on his face. That small interaction, which for my brother was probably a small and insignificant part of his day makes such a big impact and is in fact not insignificant at all. It made him feel really good, it made the person on the receiving end feel really good, and it made me feel good when he shared the story with me. I think that's what hashtag #PAYITFOOTWARD is all about, having those moments, touch points and human interactions. If we've learned anything from this pandemic, it's that connection is so important, and when it was taken away from us, we realised it. Recreating those connections with people in your community and seeing how you can help is crucial. I think a lot of the positives that have come out of the pandemic is that people want to help others and are finding new ways to do so, but I think those moments are so important and they have a domino effect.

When my brother shared this story with me, I felt really amazing inside. Then, I shared it with you and now I'm sharing it with other people. It's the gift that keeps on giving.

In the next five years, what opportunities and challenges do you see emerging for the homeless community and organisations that want to address this issue?

I think one of the biggest challenges (at least here in Toronto) is housing. Housing has become increasingly expensive, there's little of it, and there's little spaces opening up. I think housing is going to be a big concern, and I know there's a lot of policy being pushed to try and address this, and we are making small strides. But I think there is (as with anything else) more that can be done. I think the biggest challenge facing organisations at the moment is there's so much noise because of everything moving online as a result of the pandemic. It's harder to fight for different causes because there are so many causes that need attention.

Getting in front of the right audiences can be challenging, especially in non-for-profits where they have limited resources, a limited budget for marketing and obstacles to getting more exposure.

I think those two things combined are new struggles being faced. Everyone's fighting for the attention of consumers and individuals that are looking to help, and so there's a lot of noise. It's hard to cut through that noise as an organisation trying to do good.

What advice would you give to a changemaker or social entrepreneur who are just beginning their own journey?

I've learned over time entrepreneurship can be extremely lonely. I think it's important to surround yourself with a network of people you can lean on for support or bounce ideas off of. I think even further than that, what I learned over time and didn't know right away is demonstrated by a quote. I use this quote pretty often, it's from Glennon Doyle, who's an author that means a lot to me. The quote is,

"stop asking directions from people to places that they've never been."

I think what’s meant by this is often as an entrepreneur, at the beginning you're launching an idea and you're not sure who to share it with. When you do overshare it, you can get negative feedback or people trying to discourage you for various reasons. Those reasons are often that they themselves have a fear of taking risks in entrepreneurship and so they're trying to discourage you.

It's not malicious, it's just their own fear manifesting, and I think when I first started out, I didn't necessarily have the support from family and friends I was looking for which made me second guess my idea and how to execute it.

It can just make you spiral, and I think it's important to surround yourself with like-minded individuals who are working towards similar goals and other entrepreneurs, because I think having that network is just so important and can provide you with insights that wouldn't be coming from people who have never gone through the process. I think it's important to lean on others who have gone through it or who are going through it, because there's so many challenges and struggles you need to face. Not everyone understands the bigger picture; so, if you're not an entrepreneur, you might not have the right advice to share.

What inspiring projects or initiatives have you come across recently that are creating their own positive social change?

I came across this gentleman who lives in Los Angeles, his name is Jason Schneidman and his company is called The Men's Groomer. From what I understand, he works with a lot of celebrity’s hair, but he himself as a recovering addict wanted to find ways to give back through his talent. He does haircuts for the homeless, so he'll go to Skid Row in Los Angeles and invite other hairdressers in the area to come and volunteer their time to cut people's hair. He posts quite a lot of videos from these experiences, and it's so much more than just the haircut. It really does give people a sense of dignity and pride. It's the first step to seeing themselves in a different light that gives them the impetus to start turning their life around. It's the same premise as what I'm trying to achieve.

It's something so small which seems insignificant to us because we take so much for granted because we're fortunate, but something like a haircut can really change someone's life.

It changes their perspective of themselves and others, and I think he does an amazing job of creating this moment between him and this other individual where they've established a trust in him. Because of his situation, he's fortunate enough to give back, and so I just was really inspired by his company.

To finish off, what books or resources would you recommend for our listeners to check out?

I myself have always been a huge fan of Brené Brown. Early on I came across the book The Gifts Of Imperfection. I think going back to when we were talking about giving advice to new entrepreneurs, a strong recommendation of mine is to read that book because you can second guess so many things about yourself and try and make everything perfect before launching a new idea. What I've learned from various podcasts and this book specifically is that nothing's ever going to be perfect right away, so it's almost better just to launch.

As we're learning now, many entrepreneurs have to pivot their ideas. Don't wait for everything to be perfect to launch your idea. Try and get it up and running.

This book has given me a sense of confidence in myself, it talks about comparison being the death of joy. It's so easy to get wrapped up in social media and what it looks like other people are doing and how successful it looks like they are. The book gives you a lot of perspective and helps guide you in terms of managing comparison points and measuring against others. Also, it gives you a sense of confidence and belief in yourself, which I think is super important (especially as an entrepreneur).