Fresno non-profit breaks Guinness World Record for longest sock line

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- On Saturday morning, volunteers and staff of the Fresno Mission had one goal in mind - to break the Guinness World Record for the longest line of socks.

What started as a basic need for the mission quickly grew into something more.

"We looked around, like, 'Hey, we're lacking certain things and one of them was socks, which is really a tool for us so, we said, 'Hey what if we did a sock drive? And hey what if we did something really cool and break the world record?'" said Fresno Mission CEO Matthew Dildine.

But beating a world record is no easy task.

"It's going to be 7 miles long. The current world record is being held by a city in Australia so that will take around 80,000 socks," said Dildine.

Staff said it took over six months to collect those 80,000 socks.

But the hard work paid off.

They broke the record in record time, finishing the line in a few hours.

But staff say the important part is what comes next - donating the socks to people experiencing homelessness.

"I'm more excited to get on the streets next week and start handing the socks out or be in the cafeteria and handing the socks out," said Dildine.