Box of Socks

Where it started

Elsie’s Story

How Box of Socks began with one pupil and grew into an appeal across six schools.

The idea

It started with a cup of coffee

Box of Socks was started by Elsie Valentine Helyer, a pupil at Boundary Oak School in Hampshire. Helping people who are homeless has been part of Elsie’s life for almost as long as she can remember: she was about two when she first helped her mum, Stacey, make sandwiches to hand out.

As she grew up, she did more herself. On the coldest winter days, when Elsie came across someone sleeping rough, she would stop, say hello and spend her own pocket money buying them a hot coffee.

Then she went further. Every Saturday she made sandwiches and dropped them off for the people she had got to know. Talking to them week after week, she noticed something. As she told the Daily Echo, “food keeps them full, at night they can get very cold.”

So she set out to help them keep warm, and to get her school involved. She researched how she could help, and with her mum she got in touch with Stonepillow, a homelessness charity. She picked something every child could afford to give: a brand-new pair of socks.

Elsie holding a handmade poster reading The Boundary Oak Box of Socks
Elsie’s handmade poster for the first Box of Socks

Every Saturday

Growing up making sandwiches

Long before the first Box of Socks, Elsie was in the kitchen buttering bread. These photos span the years, from helping her mum as a little girl to making a whole Saturday spread herself.

A very young Elsie smiling as she butters slices of bread
Where it started
Elsie in her school uniform buttering bread next to a loaf
Before school
Elsie making a big batch of sandwiches with fruit, crisps and snack bars laid out to hand out
A whole Saturday spread
1,000+Pairs collected
6Schools this winter
1Charity: Stonepillow

How it grew

From one box to six schools

  1. Aged about two

    Sandwiches with Mum

    Elsie helps her mum, Stacey, make sandwiches and hand them out to people who are homeless.

  2. Cold winter days

    Coffee from her pocket money

    Elsie meets people sleeping rough and uses her own pocket money to buy them hot coffee on the coldest days.

  3. Every Saturday

    Homemade sandwiches

    She makes sandwiches every Saturday and drops them off for the people she has got to know.

  4. Year 4

    The first Box of Socks

    Food keeps people full, but nights are cold. With her mum, Elsie contacts Stonepillow and starts collecting new socks, something every pupil can afford. Two Year 4 classes give hundreds of pairs.

  5. Year 6 · Christmas 2025

    The whole school joins in

    Elsie takes Box of Socks school-wide at Boundary Oak, and over 300 pairs are donated before Christmas. The Daily Echo writes about her in “Changing Lives, One Pair at a Time”.

  6. 2026

    Second place in the ISA Maxwell Prize

    Elsie is named runner-up in the national Maxwell Prize for Year 6 pupils. More about the prize.

  7. So far

    More than 1,000 pairs collected

    Box after box, the total passes a thousand pairs of brand-new socks, every one of them for Stonepillow.

  8. Winter 2026

    Six schools, six boxes

    Bohunt, Churcher’s College, Portsmouth High, The Gregg, King Edward VI and Boundary Oak all put out a Box of Socks.

In the News

Changing Lives, One Pair at a Time

The Daily Echo wrote about Elsie and Box of Socks in December 2025.

Daily Echo · Young Reporter · 29 December 2025

Changing Lives, One Pair at a Time

By Alfie Atterbury, Boundary Oak School

The Daily Echo’s Young Reporter scheme published a feature on Elsie, describing how helping people who are homeless has been part of her life since she was about two years old, when she started helping her mum make sandwiches to hand out.

The article tells how Elsie realised that while food kept people full, the nights were bitterly cold. She researched what she could do, contacted Stonepillow with her mum, and started collecting socks from her Year 4 classmates. Two classes gave hundreds of pairs.

In Year 6 she took the idea school-wide, and more than 300 pairs were donated in the run-up to Christmas 2025. The writer ends by calling Elsie “a true inspiration for us all.”

Elsie in her school uniform holding up two pairs of socks, with bags full of donated socks at her feet
Elsie with her collected sock donations

Read the full article on the Daily Echo ↗

Summary written by Box of Socks. Read the original article on the Daily Echo website.

ISA Maxwell Prize 2026

Second Place for Elsie

Elsie’s work on Box of Socks was recognised in a national award for Year 6 pupils.

Independent Schools Association: Maxwell Prize for Year 6 pupils
The ISA Maxwell Prize for Year 6 pupils · image © Independent Schools Association

The result

Runner-up in the 2026 Maxwell Prize

Elsie Helyer of Boundary Oak School was awarded second place in the ISA Maxwell Prize 2026 for starting and running the Box of Socks appeal.

Her certificate is signed by Lord Lexden, President of the ISA, and Rudi Eliott Lockhart, the ISA’s Chief Executive.

First place went to Darcey K of Steephill Independent School. Congratulations to both of them.

Elsie smiling and holding her certificate for second place in the ISA Maxwell Prize 2026
Elsie with her ISA Maxwell Prize 2026 certificate

About the prize

What is the Maxwell Prize?

The Maxwell Prize is run every year by the Independent Schools Association (ISA). It celebrates the achievements of Year 6 pupils at ISA member schools across the country.

It is not an academic prize. The ISA describes it as rewarding “a holistic approach to school and community life”, the kind of pupil who makes a difference beyond the classroom.

How pupils are chosen

Schools nominate one of their Year 6 pupils. Each nomination includes a statement from the school and a personal statement from the pupil, which can be written or filmed. The ISA then judges the entries from schools around the country.

The award

Winners receive a voucher, a glass trophy and a certificate, presented at the ISA Annual Conference.

“A holistic approach to school and community life.”
What the Maxwell Prize rewards · ISA

Why Box of Socks

Kindness that goes beyond school

Box of Socks is exactly what the Maxwell Prize is about. It started with one Year 6 pupil who saw a real need in her community and did something practical about it.

She got her whole school involved, worked with a local charity, and kept it going until more than 1,000 pairs had been collected. Now it is spreading to other schools.

Being named runner-up in a national prize is a proud moment for Elsie, for Boundary Oak School and for everyone who has dropped a pair of socks into the box.

Prize details from the ISA Maxwell Prize page.

Why it works

Small to give, big to receive

A pair of socks costs very little and fits in a school bag, so anyone can take part, whatever their age. That is what makes Box of Socks work: lots of people each doing one small thing.

For someone sleeping rough, though, a new pair is far from small. Wet, worn-out socks lead to blisters, sore feet and infections. A clean, dry, warm pair helps someone stay healthy and get through a cold night.

The hope is that every winter the boxes fill up again, and more schools join in. Elsie is already thinking about what could come next, such as collecting gloves as well as socks.

Elsie outside the Stonepillow donations hub holding up two socks, with full bags of socks at her feet
Elsie delivering socks to Stonepillow

Add your pair to the box