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Escanaba Shoe Sensation Manager Marge Derkos stands with Jeff Ware of the Bays de Noc Lions Club and a large collection of socks donated by the community through Shoe Sensation's "Socks 4 Troops" campaign. The Escanaba store collected 3,688 pairs between Nov. 1 and Dec. 31. They will be distributed to area veterans and service members. (Courtesy photo)

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An annual campaign organized for the 10th year by Shoe Sensation collected 126,585 socks to more than double their nationwide goal. (Courtesy image)

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ESCANABA — The local branch of Shoe Sensation, a retail footwear chain with locations across 22 states, had a highly successful season recruiting donations for “Socks 4 Troops,” a campaign that provides new socks to veterans and active-duty military personnel.

Out of the over 240 stores across the nation, “our little Escanaba store was third” as far as quantity collected for the charity, reported Marge Derkos, manager of the Shoe Sensation at the Delta Plaza Mall, 301 N. Lincoln Rd. in Escanaba.

Socks 4 Troops launched for its 10th year on Nov. 1 and ran until Dec. 31. In that time, the Escanaba Shoe Sensation collected 3,688 pairs of new, packaged socks, exceeding the amount of 2,707 collected at the local retailer last year.

The company-wide goal that Shoe Sensation had set for all of their stores to collectively reach this past season was 60,000 — which would have required each of the 240 stores to provide an average of 250 pairs. Escanaba exceeded that goal by over 14 times — 1,475%.

But the entire company rounded up an impressive number and more than doubled the goal it had set, raising a cumulative 126,585 pairs of socks to be distributed amongst the community veterans and service members. Other organizations will assist in distributing them.