Students at Great Seneca Creek Elementary School are cleaning their closets in the search for old denim jeans to be recycled in a quest to set a world record.
The PTA-sponsored activity is part of a national campaign for Cotton Inc.'s Cotton. From Blue to Green drive to collect enough pairs of jeans and set a record in the Guinness Book of World Records for the largest collection of clothes to be recycled.
"I'm not sad about giving away my jeans," said Lyanna Johnson, 9, a third grader at the Germantown school. "I know I'm helping people."
Students at Great Seneca Creek collected 580 pairs of jeans, said parent organizer Rachelle Roth. More than 16,000 pairs of jeans have been collected nationwide, according to the Web site for National Geographic Kids Magazine, which is collecting jeans in its quest to set the record. The Cotton. From Blue to Green drive, which started in 2006, collects denim jeans and converts them into natural fiber insulation for homes built by Habitat for Humanity, a nonprofit that builds affordable housing for families in need. Cotton Inc. is a program designed to improve the demand for and profitability of cotton.
Roth said she got the idea while reading National Geographic Kids Magazine, which featured a story on the project in its April issue.
The school will collect jeans through Friday, said Roth, a mother of two students. Roth and her husband, Mike, will load the collected jeans into their SUV and "haul them" to the National Geographic headquarters in Washington, D.C. on Monday.
Not only are the students learning lessons in giving and gaining competitive spirits, but they are also learning to negotiate.
Anna Moiseeu, 10, said she has donated nine pairs of jeans, including four pairs of her own jeans. She also got a pair from her dad.
"I kept telling him it didn't matter if his jeans were dirty or that they had holes in them," Moiseeu said. "He kept saying he wasn't going to give me any and I kept on him, and then finally he gave up one pair."
