The week-long project, coordinated by student government, was an effort to tackle the need for socks and underwear for the homeless in the Brown County area.

Frau Jen Laaksonen, executive adviser to Student Government, was amazed at the response of students and parents to the call for underwear and socks.  

"Everyone stepped up with cash donations, bundles of underwear and stacks of socks," said the German teacher.  "We had to put this drive together quickly, promote it at Meet-the-Teacher Night and over the morning announcements and then let NDA generosity do its thing."

In addition to boxloads of socks and underwear, Student Government collected over $800 in cash and sent out members of the Outreach Branch as "personal shoppers" for the needed items.

As far as winning the challenge with Bayport High School, the general feeling was THIS contest left everyone winners.  In the words of Madame Geyer, "It's a great cause and it's nice what everyone is doing."

The “A Pair & A Spare: Brown County’s Undercover Challenge” website says that 80,000 socks and underwear need to be collected every year to fill the need in Brown County. An estimated 800 children in the Green Bay school district will experience homelessness at some point during the 2010-11 school year.

The website also reports, “Agencies serving those in need state they generally don’t receive such items, which means they cannot help their clients with this particular need or they have to use budget money to buy the items, which leaves less for meeting other essential needs. ”

To learn more about the organization, visit www.undercoverchallenge.com or call 920-965-7750.