LAKELAND, Fla. -- A Bay area managed to create a non-profit cheering up sick kids all while showing his silly side.

  • HERO Zachary Kirkland's non-profit is Silly Sock Saturday
  • He delivers socks and other gifts to hospitalized children
  • Silly Sock Saturday

Zachary Kirkland’s road to being an Everyday Hero started with a school assignment.

The 15-year-old sophomore is all about socks, of the silly variety, especially  on Saturdays.

"She wanted us to come up with an idea of a way we could impact our community," Kirkland said. "And impact the people around us."

At the time, Kirkland had had a few family members and friends hospitalized.

"One thing they always managed to joke about were the blue socks, the long blue socks with the grips on the bottom that you always get at the hospital."

And with that, Silly Sock Saturdays was born.

The non-profit's mission is to bring joy and happiness to kids in hospitals with gifts of silly socks and other items.

"Just to make them feel more comfortable in the hospital was really what I was aiming for." he said.

Kirkland recently made a delivery to Lakeland Regional Health that included everything from polka dot socks to striped socks to socks with designs and cars on them.

He has been delivering socks to patients on the second Saturday of each month for more than a year.

The gifts often also include coloring books, crayons and other comfort items.

Community support is how the items are purchased and "community" and caring for kids in hospital beds  is what zachary says this is really all about.

"People are still out there in the community," he said. "(There) are people they don’t even know caring about them."