FOOTLOOSE AND…
Our sometimes-maligned teenage population deserves hurrahs for this year’s magnificent “Teens for Jeans” campaign. Already more than 802,000 pairs of jeans have been donated to homeless youth in the United States. That is roughly half of the nation’s under-18 homeless population!
This sterling clothing drive, organized by DoSomething.org, was re-started in September, as schools opened and started collecting jeans while chasing a $10,000 grand prize for the top school.
The last winner was Decatur High School in Alabama. Students there contributed 7,282 pairs.
Put this fact in your memory bank: since 2007, enough jeans have been collected to be almost 8,000 times the height of the Empire State Building. Impressive? You bet!
Want to suggest to your teen to get involved? It is easy. If your youngster has an extra pair of the ubiquitous clothing, here’s the deal: Just direct them to www.teensforjeans.com. This is certainly a win-win situation in which the recipient will be thrilled and the donator will surely feel 10 feet tall!
P.S.: The new seven-night PBS documentary on the Roosevelts, produced by Ken Burns, took six years to put together. Burns sifted through more than 25,000 photographs and hundreds of hours of newsreels to research the amazing 14-hour film. Have you been watching?
