These charming orange boxes aren’t just to raise money for any old cause, the donations in this box can really increase a needy child’s standard of living. (Photo courtesy of Jacob Smith)
If you’re in Latin Club, you know it’s time for UNICEF Boxes. Latin club, run by Carrie and Mark Mash, holds a fundraiser every year around Halloween called Trick or Treat for UNICEF. Quite simply: Latin Club students are given the task of collecting spare change and bills in small orange boxes as donations.
UNICEF stands for the United Nations International Children’s Education Fund. With the money raised from the box donations, UNICEF can purchase items such as volleyballs for kids to play with, backpacks so kids in need can go to school, soap and hygiene materials to keep them clean, and food for malnourished children.
“They’re collecting money, and we’re hoping to raise two hundred dollars by the end of the campaign to send in to the national office,” said Mark Mash, one of Leesvilles two latin teachers.
Two hundred dollars may not seem like much, or enough to all the struggling children in the world, but two hundred dollars goes a long way. Two hundred dollars can buy meals for four hundred children, one thousand bars of soap, forty backpacks, and twenty eight volleyballs.
“The UNICEF organization, they make those ultimate decisions but I think generally it goes to students in need in countries abroad where there’s greater need. Sometimes they’ve directed their efforts to somewhere that there’s been a natural disaster, but it’s for students across the world,” said Mash when asked where the funds will eventually end up.
That means children in the Bahamas who lost everything in Hurricane Dorian or children who are living through war in Syria can be given relief that they deserve. The work that UNICEF is doing is a very important form of humanitarian aid that we need more of in the world. Leesville should be proud of itself that we have a Latin club that contributes to the relief every year.
Hi! My name is Jacob Smith and I am a staff writer for The Mycenaean. I am also a political activist and volunteer.