Things that we take for granted — clean water, abundant food, shelter, vaccines, schools — are a luxury for kids in developing nations. To prove this point and show Atlantans how they can help, the U.S. Fund for UNICEF set up a weeklong interactive exhibit called The UNICEF Experience at Lenox Square mall last month.
“It doesn’t take a lot of money to save the life of a child,” said Caryl M. Stern, president and CEO of the U.S. Fund for UNICEF. “I will leave here, go back to my home in New York and tuck my children in, kiss them goodnight and go to bed. And there is a mom somewhere who will not get that privilege for want of a 15-cent vaccine.”
The UNICEF Experience gave viewers information about what it costs to provide education, vaccines, sanitary living conditions and clean drinking water for kids in the 157 developing countries that UNICEF helps. On display were actual “school in a box” kits, a medical tent and other relief items, so people could see where their dollars were going without having to visit field operations overseas.
The luxury wing of Lenox, which is filled with shops like Louis Vuitton and Burberry, was chosen to show people that they don’t have to give up the things they enjoy in order to make a difference in a child’s life. Organizers also wanted to ensure that Atlantans would continue to think about UNICEF’s mission after the event closed.
“I want people to walk away from here knowing that every single day, as we go about our business, 22,000 children die of causes we know how to prevent,” Stern said. “We believe that number should be zero. And I want [people] to walk away knowing they can make that happen.”
The ability to save lives is what prompted Vern Yip, host of HGTV’s “Deserving Design,” to become a global ambassador for UNICEF. “In the [five years] I’ve been involved, they’ve been successful in getting the number down from 26,000 to 22,000 — so that’s 4,000 kids a day that aren’t dying needlessly,” Yip said. “UNICEF does not care about political affiliation, they don’t care about the political stability of the country, they don’t care about geographic boundaries, they don’t care about the religious affiliation of the child or sex or anything. All they care about is there is a child somewhere in the world that needs help, and they’re going to try and figure out how to get there.”
For more information on how to get involved with UNICEF, Encore Atlanta’s global charity of choice, visit unicefusa.org.
