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Cubs Pitcher Steve Cishek Helps Recent Grads' Company Sell Socks To Help The Homeless

CHICAGO (CBS) -- Cubs Pitcher Steve Cishek picked up the save Sunday night in the series clincher over Milwaukee. Cishek also is pitching in for a worthy cause with some colorful socks.

The socks are made by Sky Footwear, a company started by two recent college graduates from Taylor University in Upland, Indiana. For each pair they sell, they donate a pair to a different homeless shelter. This month, they're partnering with Pacific Garden Mission on the West Side.

"I had some experience growing up in Bloomington, Indiana, where I was volunteering at homeless shelter and saw that socks were a huge need; and they're an ongoing need because they have to be purchased new, so oftentimes they're neglected from shelters. But, homeless people run through socks in four or five days. It was about a year-and-half-ago, Steve Cishek purchased some of our socks. He had heard our story from a friend of his and I had no idea that he was a famous major league baseball player. I decided that I was going to reach out to him," says Sky Footwear founder Keaton Hendricks.

"First, I wanted to help out and see what kind of product they had and if I liked it I wanted to help them out. He (Hendricks) said they basically started out of their dorm room. They had boxes stacked up to their ceiling there. They could barely sleep, and I thought, 'That's pretty cool to start your business in college, in your dorm room and to supply socks out there. It's a pretty cool story,'" Cishek said.

"At the end of the day if I was just a socks salesman, I don't know if I could be doing that. There's got to be something more to it. We're able to go to the shelters personally to hand out the socks and let these people know they're cared about because somebody purchased the socks with you in mind," says Hendricks.

"I literally wear them every day at practice (before games). They're comfortable. I like what they look like and I just want to be able to support the brand," adds Cishek.

Sky Footwear's goal is to raise 2,000 pairs of socks this month for Pacific Garden Mission. Go to skyfootwear.com to learn more on the company and how to purchase socks and help their cause.

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