In an effort to raise awareness of teen homelessness, students at Freedom High are teaming up with Aéropostale stores and DoSomething.org for the fourth annual Teens For Jeans charity drive.

High school students across the country are joining the project, gathering gently used jeans to be donated to homeless teens in their communities. In Oakley, Freedom students will be collecting jeans through Sunday, Feb. 13. The jeans (which needn’t carry the Aéropostale brand) will be donated to local shelters.

Freedom Activities Coordinator Dana Johnston said Aéropostale approached the school about joining the project, and the students were anxious to take part: “I think one of the strengths we have at Freedom is that our students always want to help out the community at school and in town.”

According to the National Coalition for the Homeless, one out of every three homeless people are under the age of 18. The organization estimates that 1.6 to 1.7 million teens are homeless every year. Aéropostale Senior Vice President of Marketing Scott Birnbaum said the clothing company was happy to join the effort for the fourth year: “In 2008, Teens for Jeans started as a simple idea to enable teens to donate in their local communities. Three years later, it is a national campaign poised to collect its one millionth pair of jeans for homeless teens.

“This initiative has raised awareness of the homeless epidemic and provided jeans to teens in need in every state and throughout Canada and Puerto Rico. Aéropostale is proud to support the fight against teen homelessness.”

“We are incredibly excited to partner with Aéropostale again this year for the annual Teens for Jeans campaign,” said DoSomething.org’s Business Development Representative Brittany Castaneda. “This campaign is really what DoSomething.org is all about – teens joining a huge movement while helping real people right in their own communities.”

Schools whose students gather more than 500 pairs of jeans receive a banner for their school and recognition on the Teens for Jeans website. The school that collects the most jeans will receive $5,000 and a party will be held on campus for all the students.

Aéropostale is located at The Streets of Brentwood, 2565 Sand Creek Road, Suite C4, between Mainland Skate and Surf and dELiA*s. All community donations are welcome. Participants who bring in a pair of jeans will receive 25 percent off their next purchase of Aéro jeans.

For more information, visit www.teensforjeans.org.