Lots of Socks: CrossCity Hosts Record-Setting Event for Mission Partner

People driving past CrossCity Christian Church in Fresno, Calif., saw a rather incredible sight Saturday—about 90,000 pairs of new socks hanging on 7.4 miles of clothesline.

By Christian Standard

November 17, 2021·1 min read

People driving past CrossCity Christian Church in Fresno, Calif., saw a rather incredible sight Saturday—about 90,000 pairs of new socks hanging on 7.4 miles of clothesline.

CrossCity hosted the “World’s Longest Line of Socks” event on behalf of longtime partner Fresno Mission, said Lizz Moreno, the church’s mission director. CrossCity also provided many of the workers (i.e., those folks who were “putting it on the line”).

“COVID hit last year and . . . a lot of the businesses, and the schools, the churches that normally would do drives for us couldn’t,” Matthew Dildine, CEO of Fresno Mission, explained to the Fresno Bee, “and so we ended up being short of a lot of things that we really need. And one of those things was socks.”

PHOTOS COURTESY OF CROSSCITY CHRISTIAN CHURCH.

“So, we came up with this crazy idea,” Dildine continued, “let’s do something that’s crazy and fun—something that is functional for us. Let’s break the Guinness World Record for the longest line of socks.”

Numerous churches and other supporters of the mission contributed socks and/or money to buy socks.

“CrossCity collected and tagged over 15,000 pairs of socks that were included in the 91,000-plus pairs,” Moreno said. As hosts, CrossCity also provided such resources as food, drinks, inflatables, a stage, and the sound system. Almost 100 of the 250-plus volunteers were CrossCity folks, she said. About two dozen other churches from the Fresno/Clovis area also participated.

The family-friendly event also included food trucks, games, and other activities.

And yes, it seems the event broke the existing “longest wash line of socks” Guinness World Record by about 3 miles, the Fresno Bee reported.

But, more importantly, that foot attire will be put to good use.

“Those socks will be used not only by the Fresno Mission, but we’re also going to distribute to organizations within the Central Valley [and] also around California that have the same goal as us, which is to use those socks . . . to enter into a relationship with [the recipients],” Dildine said.