“People have a surprising amount of denim they’ve been hoarding!” Heather Bouley says she was surprised by just how many people donated denim to her SCRAP-DC store immediately after the call went out.
There are worn pairs, kids’ pairs, green jeans and bell bottoms. The request for used denim was posted to Facebook and immediately the pants came pouring in, says Bouley, co-director of the non-profit which is a community resource for artists and tinkerers.
SCRAP-DC is providing the denim to area artists using their talents to raise money for the Capital Area Food Bank.
As part of the 10th annual Blue Jeans Ball on March 24, 2013, artists are submitting ideas for a denim art piece that can be displayed in the home. Denim should be included in the art piece, but other materials are allowed. The top three winning designs will be highlighted as one of the event’s featured silent auction items.
Submissions are being accepted until January 31, 2013.
“It is one of the best things we are doing: earning money through sales, which most non-profits don’t get to do,” says co-director Karen Klein. “And that gives us a chance to give back to our community through organizations like the Capital Area Food Bank.”
Both women, along with their more than 20 volunteers are “creative re-users,” and love to educate by speaking at festivals and schools, and being active in the local arts and “green” communities.
“Lots of people who teach art benefit from our lower prices,” says Klein, noting that they get all sorts of interesting donations at their store at 52 O Street, NW.
“Just recently, a family brought in a bunch of items that had belonged to their father who we suspect was a spy. We’re still discovering treasures that were in that box,” she gushes. “There are resistors, capacitors and motherboards… stuff that artists and geeks look at and say, ‘This is so, so cool!’”
Denim, meanwhile, has been cool for generations. And it is how SCRAP-DC is choosing to give back, with a huge rain barrel full of denim, available free to any artist wanting to create the winning submission.
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