While the pockets of their newly purchased pants might be a little emptier than usual, local shopaholics will be able to spend their cash on new denim and other designer clothing this week knowing that their money is going to a worthy cause.

The Exclusive Denim Sale – organized by local community service group the Forest Foundation – will run from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday and is expected to raise approximately $5,000 for Tikva, a children’s orphanage in Ukraine. Holly Spevak, a Forest Foundation member who helped coordinate the event, said 10 percent of the event’s proceeds will go toward the orphanage, while customers will receive a 70 percent discount on a variety of local designer brands.

Spevak, a third-year global studies and business economics major, said clothing companies such as Joe’s Jeans Premium, Antik Denim, True Religion, Paige Denim, Yanuk, People’s Liberation and Junk Food will all have merchandise available at the event. In addition to denim products, people will also be able to purchase outerwear, shirts, tank tops, dresses, bathing suits, underwear and accessories.

Spevak said she decided to donate the proceeds of the sale to Tikva, and not a larger charity, because she thought the money would be more helpful to a smaller group.

“Smaller organizations could benefit more from the profits of this sale than a large disaster like Hurricane Katrina,” Spevak said. “I did some research about this orphanage and I felt that it could benefit the most from a sale like this. It is a good way for [Tikva] to gain exposure in California.”

Rabbi Shlomo Baksht opened the Tikva Orphanage in Odessa, Ukraine in 1993 as part of the Ohr Odessa project, which is a community outreach and education program. According to the orphanage website, tikvaodessa.org, Tikva provides education, social services and advocacy counseling to Ukrainian children who are homeless.

Spevak said the Forest Foundation focuses primarily on Jewish community service but is not limited to Jewish students. She said the foundation currently employs more than 20 UCSB students, all of whom help plan community service and social action projects in Santa Barbara.

The foundation was created in the 1950s by Morris B. Squire and has given away over $26 million dollars since then, Spevak said. The organization has been in Santa Barbara for seven months and also has branches in Berkeley, Los Angeles, and New York.