In 2019, 10-year-old Declan Cassidy started thinking about what he could do to help people like his sister. He had seen how people experiencing homelessness lived on the streets of Kensington and how people with substance abuse disorder struggled for basic needs. His sister was one of those people, and his mom was doing everything she could to help her.
“It felt really horrible that there were this many people suffering with substance use disorder, and it felt horrible seeing them on the street, and all of them hurt, and it was just really heart-wrenching,” Cassidy, now 15 and a sophomore at Swenson Arts & Technology High School, says of those days. His family was volunteering with various aid groups, but he decided he wanted to do his own thing to help people in need. “So we looked up the most-needed items, and socks were number one.”
Cassidy and his mother, Jennifer Malazita, posted a proposed sock drive on social media, passed out flyers to local stores and put them up around the neighborhood, and had friends and family spread the word. He collected more than 1,000 socks in that first drive. By 2021, his efforts netted over 20,000 pairs.
Since then? They estimate they’ve delivered more than 79,000 pairs of socks.
“We should always treat everyone equally, no matter what, because when many people see people in the streets, they disregard them. But they’re still human, and you should still treat them like how you would treat everyone else.” — Declan Cassidy
With the help of friends and family, the organization Cassidy founded, Socks For the Streets (SFTS), became a 501c(3) organization in 2022 to better handle donations and expand the reach of its mission. A group of women who understood substance abuse disorder as Cassidy and his family did volunteered to become the board of the new nonprofit.
“Everyone has been affected by substance use disorder in one way or another,” says Malazita, including several board members who have lost loved ones.
For his empathy, impact and commitment, Cassidy is our Young Citizen of the Year. He’ll be honored alongside his phenomenal fellow Citizen of the Year Award winners on February 25 at The Fitler Club Ballroom. You can read about all of this year’s winners here, and find out about tickets and sponsorships for the star-studded event here.
Building a community
Board member Mary Jane Shissler is among the “village of women” behind Cassidy. Her son died of a heroin overdose in 2010. Prior to Covid, Shissler held an annual benefit in his memory, providing full and half-scholarships for two eighth graders at St. Jerome, with any additional monies donated to the sports programs.
Once Covid hit, she wanted to continue doing good in his memory, so she started a sock collection. “I saw Socks for the Streets on the internet and got in touch with them,” Shissler says. She recalls Cassidy being shy but focused. As she became more involved with his organization and saw the dignity, kindness and respect with which he and his family treated people, she naturally joined his team.
Today, SFTS provides much more than socks. Concentrating on Kensington, far Northeast Philly, and Bucks County, SFTS collects clothing, hygiene supplies, wound care supplies, and food. It works with partners to redistribute donations among organizations such as the Veterans Multi-Service Center, Saint Margaret of Castello Maternity Home, Temple University Hospital Episcopal Campus, Temple Jeanes Hospital, Jo’s Village, Bucks County Emergency Homeless Shelter, Prevention Point, and St. Mark’s Lutheran Church in Pennsburg.
Saint Margaret of Castello Maternity Home is a residential home for pregnant women. In 2020, Malazita reached out to its executive director, Eileen Artysh, to donate the baby supplies STS had collected. Artysh lived in the same neighborhood as Cassidy’s family, and Saint Margaret of Castello was active on social media, so she donated socks to one of his early drives.
“My first impression was complete awe,” Artysh says of meeting Cassidy. “This child (which is what he was at the time) had more compassion and motivation than most adults.”
The two organizations continue to work together, sharing donations for each other’s primary needs. Artysh says it was sometimes easy to forget Declan’s age until he would mention preparing for high school. “I don’t know many adults who have done more for their communities than he has,” she says. “I think the important part to know is how genuine he is. He didn’t start this for college applications or publicity. He wanted to help, and found a way to do it that was age appropriate.”
SFTS also performs street outreach, providing resource referrals for shelters, detox programs and rehab centers, medical treatment centers and recovery houses. Its client advocacy work includes scheduling and attending appointments, ride services, assisting with emergency funds management and handling donations. Every month, they host a Wednesday night for women and a Thursday night for men, serving homemade hot meals to 400 individuals. It’s a huge task for volunteers, almost all who are board members and family. They could always use more help. Administrative responsibilities like tracking donations for tax purposes and managing grants fall to the adults.
“We grow as a family,” says Malazita. “It’s helped us heal and … learn how to help other families navigate the system. But, we need five cars to do one meal because all of our cars are small. Everything that comes in goes right back out. We’re always looking for help in that sense — maybe someone who would do our audits or … donate a van to carry 30,000 pairs of socks!”
A remarkably regular kid
Cassidy’s role has changed along with the responsibilities of school and extracurricular activities. Schoolwork is a priority, but he is also committed to ROTC, Bucks County 4-H and Philadelphia Toys for Tots. He organizes community events and snack bag parties, inviting other kids to help put together snacks to be distributed during outreach. While he used to come along on those outings, many neighborhoods are becoming too dangerous.
“It gets stressful sometimes, because I’m usually at school till 4 or 4:30 because I stay after for my ROTC group. But whenever I have the time, I try and do as many events or little things as I can,” he says. He’s also an honor student and plans on going to college, but he isn’t sure where or for what yet.
“I don’t know many adults who have done more for their communities than he has.” — Eileen Artysh, Saint Margaret of Castello Maternity Home
Cassidy’s sister, whose struggle inspired him to help her and others like her, is doing well. She is over three years sober, and a certified recovery specialist at The Bridgeway School. She also serves on the board of SFTS. Malazita says that even when her daughter was struggling with substance abuse, she always wanted to help others who were with her. “Maybe Declan starting this, and her seeing all this, helped her get clean,” she says.
Cassidy wants the world to know that children can make a difference, that families with loved ones who are struggling can make a difference. Socks For The Streets started from nothing and has accomplished so much out of the sheer will of a young man who rallied the support of family and friends. Most important is what he says he’s learned:
“We should always treat everyone equally, no matter what, because when many people see people in the streets, they disregard them. But they’re still human, and you should still treat them like how you would treat everyone else.”
POWERFUL PHILLY NONPROFIT STORIES FROM THE CITIZEN
Declan Cassidy in his living room this December, juggling donations to his Socks for the Streets nonprofit