Roosevelt Students Donate to Clothe, Feed the Needy

students have been cleaning out their closets and cupboards over the last week to help those less fortunate.

Members of the school's Key Club and Aktion Club have sponsored weeklong Teens for Jeans and Can the Principals campaigns.

As of Thursday, students had donated 609 pairs of gently used jeans, which will be given to teenagers living in homeless shelters across the country.

Clothing giant Aéropostale sponsors the program, which has collected more than 1.5 million pairs of jeans over the last four years.

Besides jeans, students also have been hauling in canned goods this week for a High School Food Fight challenge for Gleaners Community Food Bank.

Roosevelt students are going up against other Downriver schools to see who could bring in the most canned goods. As of Thursday, Roosevelt's count was at 539 cans.

Key Club advisor Sheryl Brna said the fundraisers were a great addition to the school’s first-ever winter spirit week, which ends today with an afternoon pep rally.

“Rather than picking between the two good causes, we decided to do both,” she said. “Some teens could do jeans and others could do cans. … And the students really responded. Students were handing me jeans all the time. I’d have a cup of coffee in one hand and five pairs of jeans in another.”

To make the canned food drive even more exciting, students in the school’s auto shop volunteered on their own time to construct four cages made out of plywood and chicken wire to house four life-size mannequins.

Each mannequin was designated as a high school administrator.

The freshmen class had Assistant Principal Jason Krajewski, the sophomores had Principal Patrick Hickey, the juniors had Assistant Principal Kelly Kazmierski and the seniors had security officer John Budzyn.

Students were told whichever class filled their cage with the most canned goods would get to see their respective administrator do something crazy at today’s pep rally.

To encourage that, Key Club volunteers spent some time locked inside the cages to entice donations.

“Students volunteered all week long to stand inside each cage during their lunch hours rattling a can, begging for change and telling students to bring in cans,” Brna said. “It was great.”

In the end, the seniors came out on top. As their reward, Budzyn, a retired Wyandotte police officer, has agreed to get his head, beard and moustache shaved during today’s pep rally.

The Key Club has sponsored 15 community service projects so far this school year, Brna said.

“The students like that we’re doing community service,” she said. “This way, we have kids carrying in cans in their backpacks and hunting their family’s closets to find jeans. … I think we have inspired them to reach out to help others. We’re bringing community service to the kids and they see the value of contributing. And we’re getting a good response.”

Anyone wishing to donate jeans can do so until noon today. Canned goods are being accepted until 2:45 p.m. today. Items should be left in the main office.