By Samuel Roberts
Children going out trick-or-treating this Halloween will not be carrying a UNICEF collection box.
The organization has revamped its annual Halloween funding campaign in favour of a more modern and streamlined approach because of the logistical problems of counting out large amounts of change.
Kwesi Loney, UNICEF regional manager for Ontario, says that this year’s funding drive, in support of the Schools for Africa campaign, has been modernized and will now run for the entire month of October.
“Students can send out virtual pledge forms to their grandparents, aunties and uncles and other relatives,” he says.
“When students bring money into school from a pledge, they’ll be able to pin a brick up on the wall that will make a picture of a school in Africa.”
Loney says this classroom “thermometre” will enable students to keep track of the money they are raising and to visually appreciate what they are working towards.
“We want to give children knowledge of why they’re raising the funds,” says Loney, “rather than just giving them a box to collect money in.”
Loney says that the traditional UNICEF boxes have not been scrapped as a reaction to previous problems with child safety on Halloween night.
“We have not received specific reports of past problems with child safety,” says Loney. He says that UNICEF consulted schools and parents about the new program and that safety and logistical issues were among the main concerns voiced.
Loney says schools in the Ottawa area have welcomed the program and are excited about the new educational aspects.
“Students will not only be able to support UNICEF, they’ll be learning about why they’re doing so,” he says.
“We’ll be linking them on a global level with students in Africa. UNICEF’s new program is solely to encourage students to become more globally conscious and to engage in charity programs.”
UNICEF is supporting the Schools for Africa campaign for the second year, in partnership with the Nelson Mandela Foundation.
“This year the focus will be on the country of Malawi,” says Loney. “We’re looking to build 200 schools and train 1,600 teachers.”
Last year, money was raised for Rwanda, enabling the rehabilitation of 200 classrooms to benefit 12,000 schoolchildren.
Teacher resource centres were set up in several provinces and 5,000 teachers were trained.
Children that take part in the funding drive will be given a branded UNICEF bag to use for trick-or-treating on Halloween night to replace of the traditional collection box. “This will show people that the students have been raising money for Schools for Africa,” explained Loney.
Jason Leuschen, whose children attend a school in Centretown, is happy with the new fundraising program.
“Even though I collected with one of those boxes when I was a kid, you always have concerns about your own children walking around at night with money,” he says.
Leuschen says that the online scheme of pledging money, which UNICEF have termed “click-or-treating,” has been a hit with his children.
“My kids do so much more on the internet now that I suppose it’s just natural that things like this go this way too,” he says. “It’s been a great excuse for them to contact all the different members of our family.”
Elmwood Junior School is one of several Ottawa schools taking part in the new scheme.
Principal Gary Macphie says they are embracing the enhanced educational aspects of the program.
The school recently held an “eradication of poverty” day, during which students watched videos in an assembly and learned about the lives of children in countries such as Malawi and Uganda.
On Halloween students at the Elmwood school will dress up in costumes and activities and games will be organized by senior students.
“The activities will be for fun but also to raise awareness of what we can do to help children in developing countries,” explains Macphie.
Under the old UNICEF collection box scheme, Macphie says that Elmwood Junior School usually raised around $700 annually.