This year, Mclean’s UNICEF (United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund) Club was kicked in full gear; the club has been active in fundraising and spreading awareness about children who are in need of humanitarian relief or aid. 

On Wednesday Nov. 20, UNICEF Club urged students to dress in blue in an attempt to make students participate in a blue-out. This initiative was done in order to spread awareness during World Children’s Day. 

“It’s a day to raise awareness of and support children’s welfare across the globe, no matter what race, nationality, or age. It’s a day to support children and raise awareness for children, especially those in need or in poverty around the world,” said senior Sachi Dieker, Founder and President of McLean UNICEF Club.

The club members are all very involved and put in the effort to spread awareness, as well as contribute to the cause. They even had a bake sale to raise funds for UNICEF.

“[We had a bake sale] for UNICEF World Children’s Day which is the biggest celebration of children within the UNICEF organization of the year,” Dieker said. 

However, their efforts did not stop there. They went above and beyond in order to accumulate funds for the children in need. 

“We even made collages from pictures of children from around the world in magazines as decoration for the bake sale, which I think helped people in the club connect with World Children’s Day and the awareness that comes with it,” Dieker said.

Dieker founded this club in March 2019 because she has a connection to UNICEF’s cause. She has travelled to different countries and has witnessed this issue in a variety of settings and cultures.

“I have grown up around the world and have seen children in need or poverty first hand,” Dieker said. “For example, I’ve lived in counties such as South Africa, Brunei, Taiwan and Japan, and seeing children in poverty really urged me to create the fundraising club at McLean.

The club has already had other fundraising initiatives as well. They previously had a bake sale to raise funds for World Water Day.

“We’ve done a bunch of different fundraising and drives so far,” Dieker said. “We had a bake sale for World Water Day, which raised awareness of the dirty water kids drink everyday.”

Not only have they donated proceeds to UNICEF, but they also reached out to a local non-profit called Second Story, who help youth in crisis or homelessness.

“[We put together] Ziploc bags filled with different types of non perishable food,” Dieker said. “They requested it on their website so we decided to have people donate food and create food packs.”

All members in the club are active when it comes to their fundraising events and activities. The members recently had a Chipotle fundraiser to donate the proceeds to UNICEF as well. 

“For our ‘Eat for Change’ event at Chipotle, I went to help out ant to get people to show up to participate for our cause,” member Salah Mohammed said.

Their efforts are paying off because the club has been very active in fundraising events.

“My hope is that students can be more aware of children around the world in need and to create an environment where students can help these kids,” Dieker said.

Overall, it is clear that all the club members involved strive to help out in any way possible. Each event is intended to help children across the world who are in desperate need for aid and all proceeds are donated directly to UNICEF. 

“Being in McLean, we are fortunate to be in a position where we can help others.” Mohammed said. “I believe that the main goal of UNICEF Club is to make sure we take advantage of our position and do as much as we can to contribute to UNICEF’s cause.”

For more information and Instagram updates follow @unicefmclean! and @unicef to learn more about this issue impacting children world-wide. Click here to donate today!

Interested in joining UNICEF Club? The club meets every Thursday from 3:15-4:00 p.m. in B182.