Trick or Treat For UNICEF

Trick or Treat for UNICEF
When I was a kid a big part of Halloween involved carrying around a little orange coin-box to collect donations for UNICEF. In addition to bowls of candy, every house had a bowl filled with pennies or other change to drop in those boxes. Part of the post-Halloween fun included dumping out all that money, adding it up and competing with the other kids to see who collected the most money.

It is fun and exciting to win T-shirts or stickers, but getting involved with Trick or Treat for UNICEF is a great way for kids of all ages to learn the importance of helping others, being part of a global solution to poverty and understanding how little it takes to make a huge impact.

UNICEF has saved more children’s lives than any other humanitarian organization in the world. But much remains to be done. Every day around the world, tens of thousands of children die before ever reaching their fifth birthday — and they don’t have to. It’s a staggering thought, isn’t it? Tens of thousands of children die every single day from causes that are utterly preventable. They die because they didn’t get a simple 5-cent vaccine. Or because they don’t have safe, clean water to drink. Enough nutritious food. Or proper medicine. In other words, they die even though the means to save them already exist.

After 60 years, Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF has raised nearly $160 million dollars. I'm sad to say that over the past few yeas I haven't had any of the kids who trick or treat at my house collect donations for UNICEF. I've decided to change this by waging a one-woman campaign to bring it to my little corner of the world  this Halloween. I'm starting now.

Here are some ways you can join me in celebrating the 60th Anniversary year of Trick or Treat for UNICEF:

•  Donate Online right now to help me raise $120.00 for UNICEF (you can print out a donation form for your taxes on my donation page)
• Encourage your family, friends and neighbors to participate make sure that kids have collection boxes and that as many of your neighbors have some spare change waiting for trick-or-treaters 
• Get your school, club or company involved get 10 or more boxes, and a free fundraising kit, simply fill out the order form or download the complete kit here.  The kit includes a great handbook fo making this a Halloween with purpose, community flyers, stickers, door hangers and more
• Stop by any Toys"R"Us or Babies"R"US to get free boxes. Locate the store nearest you. 
• Download a free TOT iPhone App  carve your own virtual pumpkin and get UNICEF alerts year-round 
• Host a Halloween party: Register your party to benefit Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF and get access to cool invitations and tips to make your party a hit!
• Create your own fundraiser: Download a free guide with tons of fundraising ideas
• Shop online  for very cute TOT posters, T-shirts, bags and buttons for your party - they make great prizes for contests
• Save your spare change from now until Halloween so you'll be ready to help your trick-or-treaters collect for UNICEF

Donations collected help support lifesaving programs which provide health care, clean water, nutrition, education and emergency relief to children around the world and at home. In 2005, spurred on by efforts to help those affected by both the Indian Ocean tsunami and Hurricane Katrina, U.S. kids raise a record-breaking $18.25 million through Trick or Treat for UNICEF. The funds helped aid victims of both disasters, in addition to supporting other programs.

Think you can't make a difference? UNICEF makes sure that a little goes a long way:

• 48¢ can help provide a notebook and pencil for a child to use in school
• 54¢ can immunize one child against measles for life
• $1.40 is all it takes to provide lifelong polio vaccinations for two children
• $18.57 is the cost of three bed nets that can protect moms and kids from mosquitoes carrying malaria
• $31.25 can help make a soccer ball and air pump available to kids in refugee camps so they can exercise and play together
• $57.50 buys a bicycle to help much needed medicine reach remote places
• $67.79 is all it costs to buy a box of 10,000 tablets that purify water for kids to drink
• $120 can immunize 171 children against polio disease for life DONATE
• $500 can buy one hand pump to supply an entire community with clean, safe water
• $605 will buy one TON of high-protein porridge-like mix to provide crucial nutrition to children in emergencies

 If you're worried about mailing all that loose change to UNICEF, you should know there are three ways to make your donation. 

1. By Credit Card - Use your credit card to make a donation of the amount collected online at trickortreatforunicef.org or by calling 1-800-FOR-KIDS 
   
2. By Check - Write a check or obtain a money order made payable to the U.S. Fund for UNICEF for the total collected amount
3. Donate at a Coinstar Center_® - To find a Coinstar Center_® near you, visit www.coinstar.com or call 800-928-CASH. Then take your coins to the Coinstar Center_® and select the "U.S. Fund for UNICEF" donation option (code #5555). In seconds, the Coinstar Center_® counts your change and prints a receipt for the full amount.

 For an official acknowledgment of your donation, mail your check or Coinstar_® receipt 

along with a completed donation form (available at trickortreatforunicef.org)  to:

Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF
U.S. Fund for UNICEF
125 Maiden Lane, 10th floor
New York, NY 10038