Balega, the performance sock brand, continues to focus on supporting local communities. In 2014, Balega is expanding its charity and fundraising initiative actions by donating to SoliderSocks, Veterans in Need, and the Catawba County United Way. These services and contributions will run through Balega’s registered non-profit charity organization, The Lesedi Project.
This winter, Balega will donate 5,000 pairs of socks to SoldierSocks, a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to serving the men and women who are or have recently served in the United States Armed Forces with the simple, yet essential things in life, like socks.
Balega is passionate about our men and women in uniform from its very own Veterans in Need program, in which fifty cents of each Enduro Physical Training sock sold is donated to Homes for our Troops, an organization that builds specially adapted homes for disabled veterans. This year, Balega’s Veterans in Needs funds benefits Home for our Troops charity supporting Army Sergeant Micheal Beck of North Carolina in the building of a new adapted home. Together, SoldierSocks and Veterans in Need help soldiers take their next steps forward.
“We have an urgent need to help as much as we can to better the lives of these courageous men and women. They sacrifice their lives for our safety and this seems like the least we can do,” stated Tanya Pictor, Balega’s Vice President of Sales and Marketing. “The military loves our socks, but can not wear them with their uniforms as the logos showed. We took one of our top selling favorites amongst military personnel and removed all visible logos so that they could wear high performance socks with their uniforms.”
In Balega’s headquarter of Hickory, North Carolina, Balega commits to donate 500 pairs of socks to the Catawba County United Way to assist with the Point in Time Count of homeless people living in that area. Point in Time Count serves as the primary source of data locally and nationally to understand homelessness trends and to track progress on efforts to prevent and end homelessness for all communities.
In addition to the charities above, Balega, a key vendor partner of Fleet Feet Sports, has been a partner with Fleet Feet Sports stores to support The Lesedi Project, which established in 2003 as a registered non-profit. Education tops Balega’s charitable efforts and The Lesedi-meaning “light and enlightenment”- Project supports South Africa’s Ethembeni School, offering education and life skills training to over 300 impoverished and disabled youth. The Lesedi Project raises funds for the school by organizing fun runs through U.S. retail partners such as Fleet Feet Sports, and through sales of students’ commissioned beadwork.
Initially, The Lesedi Project started with the Ethembeni School, but today all of Balega’s charity actions and proceeds are run through The Lesedi Project. This provides the ability to either split funds and donate to more than one fund, or change funds from year to year.
Balega’s charity work aims to make a difference in the lives of many people. Their selfless acts of giving back illustrate their South African “Unbuntu” belief-meaning, we can only be, through others around us. As Tanya comments, “It is our passion and absolute need, to live it every day.”
An American-South African initiative, Balega Sports International develops its entire product at a South African production facility utilizing the best performance yarns produced in the United States.
