I have something very exciting to share with you. First, I want to thank you for being a reader. I have toiled away at this blog for over four years, and it’s exciting to be able to say that I have thousands of people who click to read me every month. With that has come some pretty fun stuff, but at the same time, some responsibility and some opportunities to do greater good. Since thousands of people read this every month, I have to be careful with what I put out there, right?
Well, I was recently invited to apply and was accepted, to be a part of The Global Team of 200, a highly specialized group of members of Mom Bloggers for Social Good that concentrates on issues involving women and girls, children, world hunger and maternal health. It’s exciting that you, me and 199 other bloggers and their audiences are going to change the world.
Really, we are!
So welcome to my first blog post as a part of that project. It’s about Trick or Treat for UNICEF and I was just THRILLED when I saw this was one of our projects. See, way back in the day….back in the 1970s, I did this! I remember it very clearly. Our neighborhood newsletter came out and they invited children to Trick or Treat for UNICEF. I have no idea why I had such a philanthropic spirit at such a young age, but I did. So I signed up–me and my BFF at the time Brandy. I *can’t wait* to tag her on Facebook with this post and see if she remembers doing this.
Anyway, we got our little cardboard boxes, we went door to door, which you were allowed to do in those days. Today, you have Mom or Dad set up your own web page to collect donations. My, how times change! We collected our donations, we turned them in, and we got a Thank You note with our names in print in the next neighborhood newsletter. If anyone has the archives or old copies of the Ancient Oaks (Macungie, PA) Women’s Association Newsletter, I will fall out of my chair, really! But I distinctly remember seeing only our two names and thinking “Why didn’t more people want to do this?”
Well, for as disappointed as I was that more people didn’t help, lots of others have.
- Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF is one of the longest-running youth volunteer initiatives in America. For 62 years, it has helped motivate kids to become active global citizens while teaching the fundamental value of helping others.
- Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF encourages kids of all ages to help raise funds for their peers in developing countries by going door-to-door on Halloween night or participating in other festive fundraising activities.
- Through Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF, more than $167 million has been raised, providing children in 190 countries and territories with much-needed health care and immunizations, clean water and sanitation, nutrition, education, emergency relief and more.
So now it is my mission to recruit more people to do this. While it’s easy to get caught up in the problems in our country, we have to remember that there are children in other countries with many more challenges.In some countries, more than half of the children are hungry, every day. Some countries have an astronomically high orphan rate. They have challenges and live lives we can’t even begin to comprehend. Here is the story of one child who is helped by UNICEF:
There are many ways you can participate. You can collect at work, at school, online and more. View all of those here: Trick or Treat for UNICEF. If Trick or Treating isn’t your thing, there are art contests for children and other online donation options. Visit the UNICEF Youth website for more information.
Please consider helping. If nothing else, please share this post on your Facebook page, tweet it or Pin it. Here are their social media links so you can be a part and follow the progress. Thanks!
- Facebook
facebook.com/UNICEFUSA - Twitter
twitter.com/UNICEFUSA - Instagram
@UNICEFUSA on Instagram - Google+
google.com/+UNICEFUSA - Pinterest
pinterest.com/UNICEFUSA
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