ABOUT US

What is Knock Knock Give A Sock?

Knock Knock Give A Sock (KKGS) works to humanize homeless one sock a time by bringing neighbors living in local homeless shelters and neighbors living homes together. The organization raises awareness about who are the homeless in addition to providing them fresh socks; a much needed resource in many homeless shelters. The organization uses a two-step model to achieve their goal. They first encourage a company or a community to host a sock drive, after which Knock Knock Give A Sock offers them the opportunity to host a “Meet Your Neighbors Dinner.” These dinner programs foster community engagement; effectively turning the transaction of simply donating socks into an interaction that further the aim of breaking stigmas while breaking bread.

Our Mission

KKGS aims to humanize homelessness one sock at a time by turning transactions of sock donations into meaningful interactions where neighbors can get to know one another.

Our Vision

KKGS envisions a world where individuals of all socio-economic backgrounds share, listen, and ultimately know their neighbor leading to stronger communities.

HOW IT ALL BEGAN

“One cold night in November, I was handing out sandwiches to people experiencing homelessness in NYC when one man approached me. “It’s great that you’re giving out sandwiches,” he said, “but one thing we really need is socks, especially as winter approaches.” Here I was, sandwiches in hand, assuming I knew the best way to help people. In reality, helping is about listening, and hearing the needs of different communities. It was a powerful lesson, and I wanted to put it into action. I began that night, with a simple step: I went door-to-door on my NYU dorm floor and knocked on everyone’s door. I asked if they would donate just one pair of their own socks to someone experiencing homelessness. To my surprise I got over 40 pairs of socks in a single night, from a single floor. The next morning I walked out of my dorm room to find a huge pile of socks in front of my door from other people who had heard of what happened. It started small, but I knew it was such a simple concept that it could easily be grown. College students love to do good, but sometimes they need a literal knock on their door to do so. And most everyone has an extra pair of socks they can donate. That’s when the initiative Knock Knock, Give a Sock was created.”

– Adina Lichtman, KKGS Founder

https://vimeo.com/292822040

FACTS & FIGURES

600,000

On any given night, there are over 600,000 homeless people in the US, according to the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).

25%

On any given night, over 138,000 of the American homeless are children under the age of 18. Thousands of these homeless children are unaccompanied, according to HUD.

1/30

That makes nearly 2.5 million children who, in 2013, lived in shelters, on the streets, or in cars,

MEET OUR TEAM

ADINA LICHTMAN

FOUNDER

Adina is the founder of Knock Knock, Give a Sock which she started during her sophomore year of college. She completed both an undergraduate and Master’s degree in social work at NYU. After finishing her studies, Adina decided to take KKGS full-time. She is in charge of the organization’s leadership and operations. When not busy collecting socks, Adina fills her time talking to strangers, painting, and traveling. Adina envisions a world where people are inclusive and working together to make a difference, and uses this as her daily motivation.

ABIGAIL SILVER

Director of Development

Abigail is a graduate of Hunter College (CUNY) where she studied how religion functions in people’s lives and lends itself to a community organization. She joined the Knock Knock Give A Sock team as an executive assistant in October 2018 before working her way into organizational budgeting and grant writing in June 2019. You can find her reading, kayaking, snake-keeping, and talking to uber drivers during her down time.

Abbi Mayerfeld

Marketing and Social Media Manager

Abbi runs our social media and marketing design here at Knock Knock Give A Sock. She enjoys thinking creatively and fills her time with photography and painting. She loves to hear people’s stories and believes that through conversation and open-mindedness, we can better understand the people around us.

David Moed

Tech Manager

David works as a front end developer in Tel Aviv. He graduated NYU with a degree in computer science and has been working as a freelance web developer since 2015. In his free time David can be found walking his dog, heading to the beach, and hanging with friends.

MEET OUR BOARD

Founding Board Members

Adina Lichtman – Founder/Director of KKGS

Joe Teplow – Founder at Rebel (Acquired by Salesforce)

Ariel Sterman – Senior Associate at Bessemer Venture Partners

Board Members

Abigail Lehman – Director of Development at Photo Start

Carlo Neumark – Global Strategy Associate at L Catterton

David Prince – President at Prince Management, LLC

Doug Wallach – Principal at The Blackstone Group

Joshua Kamali – Private Equity Vice President at Cerberus Capital Management

Marissa Rosenfeld – US Young Leadership Director at Save a Child Heart

Hannah Sugars – Director – Deal Advisory at KPMG US

Todd Levy – Senior at Anchin, Block & Anchin LLP