After reading an article about the Teens for Jeans drive sponsored by Dosomething.org, Aeropostale and Fifth Harmony, senior basketball cheerleader captains Leandra Boyd and Jasmine Halbert decided to take advantage of the remainder of the basketball season to host a denim jean drive to provide pants for homeless teens across the local area while also taking a chance at the $10,000 grant offered to the school who collects the most jeans in the nation.
The drive started in the beginning of January and is expected to finish Feb. 14. As of Feb. 3, the cheerleading team has collected 132 pairs of jeans and hopes to achieve the goal of 232 pairs by the termination of the drive. Every morning the basketball cheerleaders stop by classrooms in first block to collect the jeans brought in by students and teachers.
“After we collect all the jeans we will drop them off at Aeropostale so they can distribute to homeless communities,” Boyd said.
According to Wall Street Journal, two-thirds of the homeless population in the United States is under the age of 18, and the most common thing these people ask for is a pair of blue jeans. By hosting this drive, the basketball cheerleaders are hoping to promote the charitable drive in the school and community.
“We’re distributing to more than just one shelter, so we aren’t just helping one group of people, we’re helping all of the shelters,” basketball cheerleader Dominique Satterwhite said.