(From the Oakland Tribune’s occupy liveblog)

A man named Michael Haley is handing out free socks at the Occupy encampment, saying he is running Sockupy Oakland. Dry feet, he says, are the key to getting people to defy Quan’s request to leave.

He has a website, www.sockupyoakland.org, where he is accepting donations to buy more socks.

He started the effort in honor of his mother, who was an activist in the ’60s who wanted to join the Occupy Oakland movement, he wrote on the site. ” … but I wouldn’t let her go face the riot cops,” he wrote. “I’ll do that for her for now, thanks. So, when she asked, ‘Well what CAN I do?’ I said socks. Socks were the number one request of campers who a friend and I talked to on our various tours of OGP. Even Forrest Gump knows to take care of your feet.”

Here’s more: “The socks I can currently get (Champion brand white medium socks) are $12.99/dozen. I will buy Ziploc sandwich bags, packaging one pair in each bag (which is then a waterproof bag containing emergency socks for when it rains, if their feet are currently dry), with a small piece of paper detailing how these socks were provided (no names). I will then take these packaged socks and verify first hand that the people I give them to are part of an actual tent.

This is important because this seems to be one of the most asked for items by actual occupiers; nobody thought to bring 20 pairs of socks, which is what you legitimately need in this situation of sustained outdoors living. It is important both for the hygiene and the health of these protesters, but also — most importantly — for their morale.”

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