Red Engine E-Auction to Benefit Children's Charity
Kids have always taken jeans to camp, but this summer, jeans will be taking kids to camp. Beginning Aug. 1, Los Angeles–based denim manufacturer Red Engine will launch “Denim for Dreams,” a fund-raiser to benefit the Dream Street Foundation, a nonprofit organization that operates camping programs for children with chronic and life-threatening illnesses.
Founded in 1998 by denim maker James Boldes, Red Engine produces a vintage-inspired denim line and has showrooms in New York and Los Angeles. With domestic sales projections of $10 million for 2004, the company is expanding into Western Europe. The line is available at department stores such as Nordstrom and at more than 600 boutiques in the United States, Canada and Japan. Wholesale prices start at $60.
The line’s popularity with juniors and celebrities was the inspiration for the “Denim for Dreams” fund-raiser. Red Engine has donated more than 20 pairs of jeans to be signed by famous actors and musicians and then auctioned on Ebay. Celebrities Debra Messing, Gwen Stefani of No Doubt, Josh Groban, Barenaked Ladies, Linkin Park, Foo Fighters, Ashley Williams, Tiffani Thiessen and Ray Romano have already agreed to participate. Heather Locklear and Minnie Driver have both signed jeans and volunteered at the camps. Actor–turned–California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and former Gov. Gray Davis are also participating, lending their signatures to the same pair of jeans, as is the cast of “That ’70s Show,” including Ashton Kutcher, who embellished his signature with drawings of hearts and small messages.
The autographed jeans will be individually auctioned on Ebay. Interested bidders can click on the “Dream Street” icon on the Red Engine Web site, www.redenginejeans.com, or search for “Red Engine Celebrity Jeans” on the Ebay Web site, where photographs of the jeans will be displayed.
One hundred percent of the proceeds from the auction will benefit the Dream Street Foundation, which runs camps in California, Arizona, Arkansas, Mississippi and New Jersey. With volunteer medical, counseling and administrative staff, the camps are equipped to handle the medical needs of children suffering from cancer, AIDS and other blood disorders. The camps are free-of-charge to the children. According to Joshua Fischer, vice president of finance and operations at Red Engine, the auction proceeds will help pay for medical supplies, clothing, and camping grounds and facilities. “It would be nice if we could raise $10,000, but anything that we raise is appreciated and goes to a good cause,” he said.
Fischer, who attended Dream Street camps when he had leukemia as a child and later worked as a junior counselor, feels a personal connection to the foundation and now volunteers annually. “It was there for me when I needed it as a child hellip; and as I moved into my professional career, it is now a way for me to give back,” he said.
If the auction is successful, Fischer plans to repeat it in the future. “Helping kids is a very important thing to me, especially sick kids,” he explained. “Any opportunity I have to do that, I’ll take it.”
Fischer said he hopes the auction will raise awareness about the foundation and research of possible cures for terminal illnesses. “As we say at Dream Street, ’It’s about making the kids’ dreams come true so that one day, we won’t have to have a Dream Street,’” he said.
For more information about Red Engine jeans or the “Denim for Dreams” auction, e-mail info@redenginejeans.com. —Jessica Kantor
