Much more than socks

It was a rough year in 2019.

Just before Christmas, Post Falls mom Shantelle Avery found herself hospitalized with severe depression.

"While I was there, there were several people that nobody knew they were there," Avery, 30, said Tuesday. "I just thought, 'Christmas is going to come and there's going to be people there and nobody’s going to know they’re there.'"

Avery was home about two weeks before Christmas. She never forgot her fellow patients who would spend the holidays in hospital beds, alone in confidential behavioral health units, away from their loved ones.

"Being there for something like depression is devastating," Avery said. "I just couldn’t stop thinking about the people who were going to be there on Christmas day."

She also couldn't forget the not-so-comfy hospital-issued socks. As someone who understands the necessity of mental and physical health and comfort, and who appreciates the significance of knowing someone cares, she began writing notes of encouragement and collecting cozy socks to distribute to patients of the adult and youth behavioral health units at Kootenai Health.

"I thought about the socks because I like a good pair of fuzzy socks," Avery said. "I like to think of it as, 'Warming feet and warming hearts.'"

The notes of encouragement are words that have been shared with Avery in her darkest moments. They helped her, so she uses them to help others in the same dark places: "Sorrow does not last forever;" "You are enough;" "It gets better;" "You are loved!"

"These encouraging messages came from things people said to me when I needed it," Avery said.

Avery distributed about 50 pairs of socks through the Kootenai Health Foundation that first year. Now a nonprofit under the moniker Christmas Socks for Hope, the giving has more than doubled. In 2021 she delivered 257 pairs to patients at Kootenai Health and Sacred Heart Medical Center in Spokane. This year she was back to just Kootenai Health, sending 114 pairs of cozy socks wrapped with words of love with assistance from two big local helpers — Birdie's Pie Shop and Thrivent.

"This is a very special gift from Shantelle because she knows what these patients are going through," Kootenai Health Foundation development and event supervisor Kali Singleton said. "She is supporting them so they know they're know they're not alone."

A member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Avery shares her faith, trials and triumphs in her blog, "That We Might Have Joy: Finding Joy in Depression."

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Post Falls Stake President Bradley Moss said Avery has a tender heart and has shown a Christ-like compassion in her work caring for others through her sock project.

"I know that these gifts touched people in our community, helping them to know that they aren't alone as they heal," he said. "Remembering those in our midst who are struggling with mental health challenges has had a positive impact for many and I applaud her for doing that."

According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness based on data compiled in February 2021, 311,000 adult Idahoans have a mental health condition, 40% of adults in Idaho reported symptoms of anxiety or depression, 69,000 adults in Idaho had thoughts of suicide and Idaho lost 417 lives to suicide that past year.

Dial or text 988 if you or someone you know is struggling with depression or thoughts of suicide. The 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline is a national network of local crisis centers that provides free and confidential emotional support to people in suicidal crisis or emotional distress 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Visit facebook.com/ChristmasSocksForHope for details about Avery's program.