Blue jeans of any wash, size and shape are welcome at McIntire Elementary School. The jeans will go to victims of the F-4 tornado that hit Washington, Ill. on Sunday after being used for the school's aerial photo.
The jeans will create a blue sky background as students, staff and teachers shape into a yellow-and-black-striped bear paw with hornets wings to symbolize McIntire's mascot transition from bears to hornets. Creating a blue background with jeans was already in the plans before the tornado devastated Washington, Ill., but after the disaster became personal for art teacher Rebecca Diekamp, the jeans will be for a good cause.
Diekamp's brother lives in Washington and while his home went almost untouched - it only has broken windows - his neighbor's home like many in the area was flattened.
Diekamp said the goal is to collect 500 pairs of jeans. When talking with her students and others in the building, they found motivation to helped the tornado victims.