a story of sock joy for nurses week
Nurses Week has arrived, but this year sure feels a little different than in the past, huh? This time around, as medical pros bravely work their socks off on the front lines of a pandemic, let’s focus on a personal story about some healthcare heroes that we sock fairies are so proud to tell.
Many months ago, long before the pandemic spread in the U.S., we got an email from a grad student named Sarah who was working as a medical scribe in Grand Rapids, Michigan. She wanted to let us know that she and her co-workers had started rocking our fun novelty socks on the job along with Crocs shoes and sharing photos on Instagram. Sarah wrote: “Myself and other physicians, physician assistants, nurse practitioners, nurses, and medical scribes have started #SocksAndCrocs!”
In these Instagram story photos from Sarah, the Socks n Crocs Crew showed off their style!
The photos were hilarious. It was a blast for us sock fairies to see how many people got into it, and Sarah described the joy it spread not just to the healthcare workers, but also their patients. It became clear to us right away that all these folks were among our top customers, buying dozens and dozens of pairs of fun socks from us over the past several months.
We started talking about involving these inspiring, enthusiastic sock lovers in a special project for a medical occasion such as Nurses Week. We didn’t know at the time that come May, we would be sheltering at home. We suddenly were unable to send our own photographer out into the world to take pictures of our selection of fun medical socks. But we knew a group of amazing healthcare workers who had happily tagged us in sock photos for months!
We crossed our fingers (and toes) and sent Sarah and our friends in the Socks n Crocks Crew a bunch of our favorite medical patterned styles and compression socks, which are popular among healthcare workers who spend all day on their feet. We threw in some silly animal patterns and others, too, just for fun. We told the crew that if they had the chance, we’d love it if they could send us some photos of them wearing the socks, but we understood if they were busy.
Oh, they were busy. They were COVID-19 busy. And still, look at these photos!
Awesome healthcare workers in Grand Rapids, Michigan, proudly rocking their fun socks!
Funny examples of social distancing! Hand sanitizer! Even an EMT who wanted to show off her dino socks during a break in her shift!
These incredible medical workers were in the middle of an unprecedented pandemic, dealing with staffing shakeups and more stress than most of us can imagine, and they took the time to help out a small business on the other side of the country. Our socks had made them happy for a long time, and they wanted to keep on spreading that joy.
No joke — these photos made some of us sock fairies tear up a little. THANK YOU, Socks n Crocs Crew, for your brave contributions to your community and for finding moments of joy amid so much else. Thank you especially, to Sarah, for organizing this effort. It means more to us than we can say.
From challenging times, stories of inspiration always emerge. We’re inspired by the boundless capacity for hope and joy the Socks n Crocs Crew and other healthcare workers have shown our world lately.
In addition to the socks we sent to Michigan, we also donated 200 pairs of cool socks last month to our local healthcare providers at Dignity Health and Tenet Health Central Coast.
Queen sock fairy Brooke English, right, donated 200 pairs of socks to local hospital employees.
Our founder and CEO Brooke English said: “We’re a small business, and like pretty much every business right now, times are tight. But we thought about what we have and what we can do, and what we have is socks. Our products are about bringing people joy, and if there’s anyone who deserves that right now, it’s all the nurses, doctors and other essential medical workers out there.”
This Nurses Week, if you can, make the effort to show the healthcare workers you know a little extra love. Whether that means picking up a pair of fun medical socks for them, writing them a note of appreciation or cooking them a meal and leaving it at their door, we encourage you to find some way to say thanks. They really deserve it. Shop Now!