Julia Chan (SFS ‘03) and Sean Hawkes (CAS ‘03) addressed a group of about 20 students with a plan to start a Georgetown University United Nations Children’s Fund chapter at a meeting on Wednesday. The chapter will focus on fundraising for children’s health and education in the developing world.
Chan said that the purpose of the University UNICEF chapter is to work with other groups in community service fundraising.
“If you want to make a difference, you start by helping the kids,” Chan said.
UNICEF was founded in 1946 to aid children affected by World War II. Later, UNICEF expanded to the developing world. According to Hawkes, UNICEF’s efforts include “trying to save the lives of children through immunization” and expanding opportunity for universal education. For example, the right of girls to receive an education is one of UNICEF’s specific goals. Additionally, Hawkes emphasized that HIV-AIDS prevention is a new UNICEF project in Africa and Asia.
UNICEF depends solely on donations; no UN funding supports its mission. Chan said “trick or treating,” going from door to door with a small box and asking for money, is a common way to raise funds.
Hawkes said that the Corp was also interested in helping, offering to place donation jars near the registers for money that will go toward polio eradication.
“Children are innocent and these diseases are preventable,” Hawkes added.
The challenge for the group lies in linking their fundraising activities to off-campus areas. According to Hawkes, the chapter wants to place collection boxes in local area restaurants in order to increase fundraising capacity.
Chan and Hawkes encouraged younger students to take the lead in developing the chapter’s fundraising activities and brainstorming new ideas for the organization.
“We’re seniors so we’d like to hand [the UNICEF chapter] over to you,” Hawkes said.
