HanesBrands Teams Up with Pac-12 to Help the Homeless

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C.-Hanes and the Pac-12 team up to care for the homeless in Seattle during the athletic association’s Sustainability Conference. The conference takes place this week at the University of Washington.

As part of the collaboration, Hanes provides an educational event that educates participants “about homelessness in America and give them an opportunity to engage with and bring comfort to part of the local community who needs it most,” the company says. Known as the “Day of Service,” the day begins with a presentation by Mark Horvath, founder of Invisible People, a longtime Hanes partner discussing how the public perception of homelessness impacts how the issue is addressed.

“Invisible People is dedicated to changing the narrative of homelessness in the United States by giving a voice to those who are too often overlooked,” says Horvath, who has experienced homelessness himself. “Our inability to relate to homelessness and to those who are experiencing it is one of the biggest obstacles to ending it. For the past decade, HanesBrands has demonstrated a strong commitment to helping us raise awareness about the experience of homelessness in America.”

Invisible People and Hanes collaborate annually on a nationwide Sock Drive to help the homeless throughout the U.S.

Following the presentation, Horvath and volunteers from Seattle Homeless Outreach will lead 14 participants into the community to deliver Hanes socks. The team led by Seattle Homeless Outreach, a volunteer-run nonprofit organization that provides critical support to those experiencing homelessness in the Seattle-King County area, will restock its Box of Socks locations in Pioneer Square and near the Seattle Ferry Terminal. Coinciding with the Pac-12 Sustainability Conference “green” theme, the donated socks are manufactured with recycled polyester fiber content.

“We know how much basic apparel items, such as socks, mean to those living without shelter, and we are pleased to participate in an effort that will meaningfully impact hundreds of lives in Seattle – and hopefully in other areas as participants travel home,” states Chris Fox, vice president of corporate social responsibility for HanesBrands.

For more information, visit www.hanesforgood.com.