Get real. Don’t fight your genes, just change your jeans.

That’s the message behind the Great Jeans Giveaway organized by West Virginia University’s Carruth Center for Counseling and Psychological Services in conjunction with National Eating Disorders Awareness Week Feb. 26-March 4.

Members of the WVU and Morgantown communities are encouraged to go through their closets and get rid of jeans that don’t fit anymore by dropping them off at a table in the Mountainlair lobby Monday through Friday. The jeans will be donated to a local agency that serves people in need of clothing.

Through this event, the Carruth Center and co-sponsor WVU National Center of Excellence in Women’s Health hope to help people focus on a healthy self-image and think twice about destructive dieting habits.

In the United States, as many as 10 million females and 1 million males battle eating disorders such as anorexia and bulimia, according to the National Eating Disorders Association, while another 25 million suffer from binge eating disorder.

The Carruth Center offers personal counseling to WVU students who may be struggling with eating and body image concerns.

For more information about the Great Jeans Giveaway, contact Kristee Treadwell or Alex Yanez, psychology interns, at 304-293-4431.