Centennial Middle School student collects 800 pairs of jeans

By Brooke Mortensen

April 28, 2010 — An eighth-grade student at Centennial Middle School collected 800 pairs of jeans in just two weeks for the third annual Teens for Jeans program.

Jacob Rak-Kinonen took part in the program, supported by Aeropostale, as an effort to help the people of Haiti and homeless teens in the United States.

Jacob has a history of helping others. At an early age he collected books for Phoenix Day Learning Center in South Phoenix and for Friends of the Phoenix Public Library. He also started a "black belt service club" at his karate studio to encourage others to get involved in the community.

"Jacob is one of those kids who is very much aware of helping the community and helping collect jeans for Haiti was a great effort on his part," said Ev Michell, Centennial Middle School principal and one of many who agreed to help Jacob in his efforts.

Jacob got involved with the Teens for Jeans program after reading a sales email from Aeropostale and visiting the Anthem store to get more details. The store's event manager helped Jacob get set up to collect jeans. His original goal was 100 pairs of jeans in two weeks, but after contacting everyone he knew and asking for their involvement through promotions, contests and collection boxes, he far surpassed his goal.  

"I just wanted to do something to help and knew we could make a difference even if we didn’t have a lot of time,” Jacob said. "I just want to say thanks to everyone who helped." This year Aeropostale collected 624,893 pairs of jeans overall, up from 200,000 last year.

Jacob plans to continue his participation in the Teens for Jeans program and hopes to launch a friendly competition between Mountain Point and Desert Vista high schools to see which school can collect the most pairs of jeans. He is currently involved Nike ReUse a Shoe and Soles 4 Souls projects at Centennial.