Employees dress down for charity

Wearing jeans aids children's programs

The Clark County Clerk's office is not a casual workplace. Employees are expected to dress their best from head to toe. Slacks, dresses and ties are the norm. Panty hose or socks are required year round, even in Southern Nevada summers.

But four times a year, County Clerk Shirley Parraguirre lets her staff off the hook. For a $5 donation, they're welcome to wear their favorite blue jeans to work for Jeans Day for Charity.

Parraguirre's office picks a different charity for each jeans day. So far they've helped raise funds for Child Haven, Big Brothers and Big Sisters and Miracle Flights for Kids.

Right after September 11, the office combined efforts with the Clark County District Court's office to raise $3,700 for the Red Cross. The clerk's office's July 2 event benefitted the Clark County Public Education Foundation's Leave No Child Behind program.

Parraguirre said the quarterly jeans day is great for office morale. Since the Jeans Day for Charity event was started, the employees have raised more than $9,000.

"By the end of today (July 2) we will have raised upwards of $10,000 in almost two years," Parraguirre said.

The 270 employees in the clerk's office consider the jeans days a privilege. The staff gets to dress in business casual attire every Friday, but wearing jeans is special.

"We try to maintain a more professional appearance here and because of that they really welcome this four times a year," Parraguirre said. "If I said they had to pay $20 to wear jeans, I believe they would do it. They might even pay more."

"We'd pay extra for tennis shoes," court clerk Denise Husted suggested.

While Parraguirre isn't ready to see tennis shoes walking into the clerk's office, she did allow hats once. The office held a Hats on for Cancer Day in honor of several of the female employees who had lost their hair after cancer treatments. At the end of the day, all the hats were donated to an organization that collects hats for cancer patients.

The next Jeans Day for Charity is set for October. Parraguirre anticipates most of her staff will participate and said she would like to see the whole county jump on board.

"We have over 6,000 employees," she said. "Can you imagine what we could do if we just picked a project and went for it?"


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