Of the 1.7 million homeless teens in America today, one of the main items that they request is a pair of jeans. Over fifty percent of these homeless teens were either kicked out of their homes or were told that their parent wouldn’t care if they left. Many of the homeless youth community left their homes due to at-home problems including physical and sexual abuse, substance abuse of a family member, and lack of affordable housing.

These heartbreaking statistics give more reason to salvage a gently used pair of jeans from your closet to donate to the worthy cause of Teens For Jeans. Bob Jones senior Julianna Head, believes that “the knowledge that there are so many homeless teens makes me want to take the jeans that are gathering dust in the back of my closet and give them to Teens for Jeans.”

Founded by Aeropostle and dosomething.org, this year marks the seventh annual fundraiser. This foundation collected over 800,000 pairs of jeans last year alone over only a four-week period.

Sponsored by the United Way Youth Counsel at Bob Jones, this event has a goal set to donate 2,000 pairs of jeans between now and February 11^th.  Students should donate their jeans to their first block classes.

Teacher sponsor of the United Way Youth Council, Mrs. Coker states, “Jeans are the perfect item to donate. They can be worn multiple times between washes, can be dressed up or dressed down, and provide a sense of normalcy to the person wearing them. We hope that our school can raise 2000 pairs of jeans for this worthy cause.”

The student sponsors include Jordan Cozby, Lauren Barr, Maddie and Steven Fruhwald, Tate Hunt, and Kristen Waltz. If Bob Jones reaches the goal of 2,000 jeans, students and teachers will be dismissed early on the half-day of Friday, February 13^th.

Please encourage peers and teachers to donate to the worthy cause of Teens for Jeans.