Student leads collection of jeans for homeless teens

OLD BRIDGE — Sheryl Sinacore has 71 pairs of jeans, but they are not part of her wardrobe.

Sheryl, with the help of fellow students in the Service Learning Club at Collier High School, Marlboro, collected gently worn jeans from students and staff to be donated to homeless teens. The effort is part of the fourth annual Teens for Jeans volunteer project, sponsored byAeropostale.

Sheryl, who has a passion for helping others, proposed the project to the other members of the club.

“I chose homeless teens because I’m a teenager myself. I heard a lot of sad stories and I wanted to help,” she said.

She will drop off the jeans along with 100 other pairs the family has stored at home to a local Aeropostale store. Aeropostale will distribute the jeans to homeless shelters and charities.

Sheryl’s project is one of many that involve Collier students. Others that foster learning through service include conducting a blood drive, serving meals at a soup kitchen, visiting the elderly in nursing homes, and contributing to Haitian hurricane relief efforts.

Sheryl does a lot of volunteering on her own as well. She spent most of the 200 hours of volunteer service she has accumulated working with adults and children with disabilities near her home in Old Bridge.

“It doesn’t feel like I’m volunteering. It just feels like I’m spending time with them,” she said. “It just makes me feel better.”

Collier High School is an alternative education program operated by Collier Youth Services, a nonprofit social service agency.