The Register-Herald, Beckley, West Virginia

Local News

March 1, 2011

Teens for Jeans set for March 12

By Andrea Lannom Register-Herald Reporter

BECKLEY — A harrowing statistic states that one out of every three homeless people is under the age of 18. For these youth, going to a closet stocked full of clothes is not an option because many may only have one outfit to wear.

To help, Family Options Providers is partnering with Aeropostale to distribute jeans to the needy. Right now, the business is “bursting” with rooms full of boxes of jeans, said Family Options CEO Robert Dunlap.

Dubbed Teens for Jeans, the event is scheduled from noon to 4 p.m. March 12 at Family Options Provider’s 550 North Eisenhower Drive location. Tables with jeans will be set up in the parking lot, and in case of rain, the event will be moved indoors.

“This gives us the opportunity to serve families in need in this region, and we are so excited to be able to make such a direct impact on families who need assistance without their most basic needs,” he said. “We have already distributed around 200 pairs to kids throughout the state that are in the direst of need, and now we have several hundred additional pairs of jeans to distribute right now.”

Part of a national campaign to raise awareness for homeless teens, Aeropostale has been donating jeans to the Teens for Jeans campaign for the past nine years. The New-York-City-based business offers a 20 percent discount on new jeans in exchange for jeans returned to the store.

This is the fourth year Family Options Providers has been in charge of the event, and since its inception, Dunlap says the event has been very successful.

“This has been a popular drive in the past,” he said. “This is the fourth time we have been there to make sure these jeans make it to teens in the 40 counties served by our agency.”

Dunlap says he is shocked by how many teens only have one shirt and one pair of pants to wear. He says this issue is a “heartbreaking” epidemic that needs to be resolved.

“It’s a sobering statistic that one in three homeless individuals in our country is under 18,” he said. “It is beyond an epidemic when we see these young people who have one or two outfits as they try to maneuver through their early adolescent years.”

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