Eja Fromm
Co Editor In-Chief
An introduction to MVHS’s UNICEF: an organization that works toward providing humanitarian and developmental aid to children and young people worldwide!
Mission seniors Kendall Eulo (president), Katrina Simon (vice president), Sarah Hobiera (secretary) and Kiana Farahani (treasurer) organized the club to be recognized: UNICEF.
UNICEF (United Nations Children’s Fund) works in the world’s toughest places to reach the most disadvantaged children. Founded in 1946, they helped many children and young adults thrive while working with them to fulfill their full potential.
The club at Mission was organized during the pandemic when most of the school was online. President Eulo mentioned, “I started it junior year after the pandemic started because I wanted a way to help somehow. UNICEF was focused on covid relief in underdeveloped countries who don’t have access to healthcare and sanitary supplies.”
It wasn’t possible to hold meetings in-person, so the club leaders hosted zoom meetings. The purpose of the meetings was to raise money to donate towards the non-profit organization, along with informing the community about humanitarian problems around the world.
During the meetings, the leaders of the club informed students apart of UNICEF about human trafficking issues, the syrian crisis, and other world issues.
Eulo started the club because she was, “looking more into UNICEFs purpose and wanted to inform and advocate for them so that our school is more aware about humanitarian issues people suffer from daily.”
UNICEF advocates for more people to participate in the club because then the organization will have a larger impact. They are recognized on a national level as they work with communities and governments to bring education to children who live in poverty stricken or underdeveloped areas.
Unfortunately, covid restricted the club from hosting events. Instead, they hosted a UNICEF virtual movie night in February 2021! The movie Soul was watched via zoom while the club leaders opened up a link in the MVHS webstore to directly donate money to UNICEF.
Before Winter Break, UNICEF hosted their first in person meeting. Everyone met during lunch to make holiday cards that were donated to local children’s hospitals. It was a big success as many students showed up to support the cause.
The organization partners include global brands such as Ikea, Lego, and Microsoft. They give resources that aid towards driving innovation to help children. Additionally, they have strong connections between governments, NGOs, civil society, and private sectors to make their work possible.
UNICEF needs all the donations and partnerships that they can get. For instance, durin the Yemen crisis, approximately 2.3 million children are suffering from malnutrition. Furthermore, 10,000 children have been murdered amid the violence, 2 million children are out of school, and 11.3 million children are in need of humanitarian assistance.
They are on ground in Yemen to help save children’s lives, and to help them cope with the impact of the conflict. They have been supplying therapeutic needs such as food and medical care. Partners have helped them rehabilitate damaged schools and establish safe learning spaces. Additionally, they have provided covid 19 vaccines and safety supplies to the community.
Amid the new year, UNICEF plans on admitting 360,000 children for treatment due to malnutrition, giving 2.5 million women and children access to healthcare, giving 5.9 million people access to WASH sanitary supplies, and to help 6 million women and children access gender-based violence mitigation, prevention, and response.
In order to accomplish these goals, they will need approximately 484.4 million dollars. Overall, UNICEF has aided towards helping many through humanitarian crises and has high hopes for the future of the organization.
