Teen stars to perform in benefit concert

Tweens will be squealing on Sunday, as Christian pop stars Aly and AJ stage “Doin’ Our Part for the Kids,” a benefit concert for the AmberWatch Foundation, which seeks to prevent child abduction and abuse.

The concert will be at 2 p.m. at the Irvine Bowl, on the Festival of Arts grounds. Tickets start at $15; for more information, visit www.amberwatchfoundation.org.

Teen sisters Aly, 17, and AJ, 15, are a key component of the Walt Disney Co.’s entertainment offerings and have become a household name for many kids and tweens.

“What’s great is to see little girls’ eyes light up — it’s like The Beatles or something,” AmberWatch Executive Director Keith Jarrett said. “They truly are great kids. They completely have their heads screwed on right. They’re great role models for little girls.”

Aly and AJ have had their songs appear in movies like “Ice Princess” and “Herbie: Fully Loaded.” They were nominated this year for Contemporary Inspirational Artist of the Year at the American Music Awards.

They also act on television shows, and their family home has appeared on “MTV Cribs.” Aly stars on the Disney Channel series “Phil of the Future,” and AJ has appeared on “The Guardian” and “Six Feet Under.”

“The great thing about this concert is that Aly and AJ are doing it at zero cost to us,” Jarrett said. “One hundred percent of the ticket sales are going to the foundation.”

Aly and AJ first came into contact with Jarrett at an AmberWatch launch event in April, Jarrett said.

“They immediately came up to me at the party and said they wanted to get involved,” Jarrett said. “They’re approached by thousands of organizations, and they immediately gravitated toward us, which is amazing. They were on board from day one.”

AmberWatch offers a different message from many other child safety awareness groups; it focuses on the relationships a child already has, rather than the more common message of looking out for strangers.

“We as a foundation have a big job in front of us,” Jarrett said. “That job is to start changing the conversation more toward kids — and especially parents — paying attention to people that their children know or know of, rather than all the conversation being about strangers.”

The foundation held its first kid advisory board meeting a few weeks ago, over which Aly and AJ presided. Jarrett came up with the idea for the program a few years ago, when his daughter Sabrina disappeared at a toy store.

“It’s a story that every parent’s had,” he said. “You turn around, and your kid’s gone. Literally just seconds before I was ready to scream ‘Shut down the store!’ I found her sitting down reading a book.”

He and his brother, a Chino policeman, had sold personal alarms for women years ago. Jarrett had the idea to revamp them for children, and his brother came up with the AmberWatch, a wristwatch that emits a piercing alarm when the right combination of buttons is pushed.

The watches are now sold in stores including Toys R Us and the Sharper Image; a portion of the sale proceeds go toward the AmberWatch foundation.

“The AmberWatch is great as a tool, but there’s so much more to do — that’s how the foundation started,” Jarrett said. “The core of the foundation really is our educational programs.”

Jarrett hopes to make his foundation self-sustaining, through the sales of the AmberWatch and other products and services.

The foundation’s Be Safe! program is taught at elementary schools around the country.

“It’s something that everybody can get behind,” Jarrett said. “To protect your kids from predators — what else is there to do? What else is more important than that?”