UNICEF "Trick-Or-Treat" Program to Benefit Katrina Victims

UNICEF announced yesterday that it will donate half of the proceeds raised through this year's Trick-Or-Treat program. Since Clay is a UNICEF ambassador and is the designated spokesperson (.doc file- PR from UNICEF) for this year's program, Clay might be invited to various TV shows to promote this UNICEF effort. No TV appearances relating to the "Trick-Or Treat" program have been scheduled as of 9/10.

From UNICEFusa.org:

Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF and Hurricane Katrina

NEW YORK -- In recognition of the catastrophic impact of Hurricane Katrina on hundreds of thousands of American children, the U.S. Fund for UNICEF will direct half of the proceeds from the 2005 Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF campaign to help Katrina's youngest survivors. In addition to the Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF campaign, the U.S. Fund for UNICEF is also actively encouraging direct donations to its Hurricane Katrina fund.

This marks the first time, since its inception in 1950, that funds raised from Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF will be used for programs in the United States. To date, the program has raised over $127 million to fund UNICEF's lifesaving work for impoverished children in developing countries.

In the United States and other industrialized nations, UNICEF typically does not operate child survival and development programs, instead engaging in advocacy and fundraising efforts in support of UNICEF's mission. However, the extraordinary nature of the Hurricane Katrina emergency demands that all of us play a role in responding. UNICEF will contribute to the recovery effort by working with the U.S. government and domestic aid organizations that are providing direct relief services.

Likewise, millions of children around the world depend on UNICEF's lifesaving programs, and UNICEF will continue to honor its mandate of providing health, education and protection to the world's poorest and most vulnerable children.

In the areas affected by Katrina, thousands of children have literally seen their lives washed away -- they have lost homes, schools, communities, and with that, their sense of security, normalcy and well-being. Many children have witnessed a breakdown of the very structures that are designed to protect and sustain them and have been witnesses to unprecedented scenes of destruction.

Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF began in 1950 when a small group of children from Philadelphia decided to use milk cartons to raise funds for children in post-World War II Europe. That first year, they raised $17 for UNICEF, and the program has been sustained and beloved by children, teachers and community groups ever since.

UNICEF is non-partisan and its universal mandate is to ensure the fundamental survival, protection and well-being of children, regardless of race, religion, geography and gender.

This year's Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF spokesperson is UNICEF Ambassador Clay Aiken, a former U.S. schoolteacher who witnessed the reopening of tent schools using the School-in-a-Box in Indonesia after the tsunami struck there in 2004.

September 9, 2005