To improve tragic conditions in an orphanage in mountainous Kabul, Afghanistan, the student council at George Washington High School, 655 S. Monaco St., Denver, will host a charity drive from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 22 in the school’s south parking lot.

Students will collect clean clothing, sheets, towels, toiletries and blankets for more than 800 children in the care of the orphanage - children who have lost their parents during one of the country’s many conflicts or who are not provided for by their parents.

A single room in the orphanage’s dormitories can serve as home to as many as 20 children at a time. The children’s clothes are old and worn, and most do not have shoes. They sleep using old mattresses and shabby blankets that must be shared, and a generator provides only two and a half hours of power every day, so heat is scarce.

Ashlee Jensen, one of student council’s All School Executives, is spearheading the drive. Jensen is a senior in the International Baccalaureate Program at George Washington High School, and after graduation she plans to attend Scripps College in Claremont, Calif. She has been heading community service projects since her sophomore year and plans to continue this task throughout college and beyond.

For information, contact George Washington High School, 303-394-8600.