Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF

Well, time now is 738. Give like a kid again. The United Nations Children's Fund, or UNICEF, is observing Halloween with a trick-or-treat campaign. It began in 1950 when kids collected coins in hand-painted milk cartons to help children affected by World War II. It's rooted in the belief that even the smallest acts of kindness can make a big difference. So joining us now to discuss it is Shelly Diamond, Chief Marketing Officer of UNICEF USA. Shelly, thanks for joining us this morning. Thank you for having me. I really appreciate it. Of course, of course. Now, this trick or treat for UNICEF has been around for 76 years. How's the campaign evolved? Well, you know, the world has changed dramatically since UNICEF started the program, UNICEF USA, as you pointed out, back in 1948, where they were collecting shoes. The first year it raised $17 for children, but it really evolved. It grew into a national campaign. It became part of culture. And the deep desire for children to give to other children, kids helping kids, that never changes since the 50s up until today. And we've evolved with it. We've adapted. Go ahead, Charlie, if you still have it. We were just playing some of the videos from the old commercials that you used to run. Isn't this unbelievable? I mean, it's literally the longest-running youth engagement campaign in the U.S. And over the years, it has raised over $200 million. All those nickels and dimes and quarters really began to add up. And today, we've evolved it. We've given it both a digital experience. We've brought it to life in family experiences like the Mall of America and this year, the American Dream Mall in partnership with Nickelodeon, because sadly, we're no longer in schools. So the boxes are available on our website. But at the heart, the costumes have changed. And but the challenges have not. For sure. You know what? Kids are kids. So we love this idea of give like a kid again. So I wanted to ask you, Shelly, here, in terms of how you collect it, can you describe to us how this campaign works these days here? You said there are some changes digitally now, but how does that work now? Yeah, so people go to our website. They get a box, or they get many boxes, or they get a box for their entire school and their community, or they can start a fundraiser. Many of our neighborhoods and communities do fundraisers with their peers, and then they can just donate on our website. And Venmo, I mean, we have all the modern ways of collecting money. We don't collect nickels, dimes, and quarters anymore. No. We put the money directly to UNICEF. And then, in turn, we send that money to children who need food and water and nutrition and education and blankets. It goes directly to the children who need it most. So all children within the United States, is there some focus that the money goes toward of kids here around the country that need it? Yeah, so UNICEF is an international organization, so the money goes to children in the parts of the world that absolutely need it most, whether it's during an emergency or ongoing emergency uh but that that little child's holding that box it just reminds people that hey i want to give like a kid again i want my kids to give the way i did and feel like we're doing some good for the world it reminded me of uh when we used to do that when we were younger you know go around and collect for for UNICEF uh Shelly Diamond thank you so much with UNICEF USA we appreciate your time here and hopefully this teaches a great lesson uh for kids to give to other kids as well absolutely and go to our website unicefusa.org backslash tot 2026 all right Shelly thank you so much appreciate it thank you so much it's so empowering to see kids out there with those little UNICEF boxes and they feel so good about themselves when they're helping other kids uh something else that makes people feel good