Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF is a fund-raising program for children sponsored by the U.S. Fund for UNICEF. Started on

Halloween Halloween, or Hallowe'en (less commonly known as Allhalloween, All Hallows' Eve, or All Saints' Eve), is a celebration geography of Halloween, observed in many countries on 31 October, the eve of the Western Christianity, Western Christian f ...

1950 as a local event in

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, United States, the program historically involves the distribution of small orange boxes by schools to trick-or-treaters, in which they can solicit small change donations from the houses they visit. Millions of children in the United States, Canada, Ireland, Mexico, and Hong Kong participate in Halloween-related fund-raising events for Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF, and the program has raised over worldwide.

History

Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF was invented by Mary Emma Allison. In 1949, the Allisons were living in Bridesburg, a neighborhood in Philadelphia. When Mrs. Allison saw a

UNICEF UNICEF ( ), originally the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund, officially United Nations Children's Fund since 1953, is an agency of the United Nations responsible for providing Humanitarianism, humanitarian and Development a ...

booth collecting funds to send powdered milk to undernourished children around the world, she thought of getting children to collect donations for UNICEF instead of candy. Reverend Clyde Allison introduced the concept to local Presbyterian churches. On Halloween 1950, the Allisons recruited their own children and their community's to go door-to-door collecting nickels and dimes in decorated milk cartons to aid children in

post-World War II The aftermath of World War II saw the rise of two global superpowers, the United States (U.S.) and the Soviet Union (U.S.S.R.). The aftermath of World War II was also defined by the rising threat of nuclear warfare, the creation and implementati ...

Europe. They collected a total of $17 and donated all of it to UNICEF. In 1953, the United States Committee for UNICEF, later renamed the U.S. Fund for UNICEF, started actively promoting the program. By the 1960s, the concept had expanded throughout the United States, with small orange collection boxes distributed to millions of trick-or-treaters. When UNICEF won the

Nobel Peace Prize The Nobel Peace Prize (Swedish language, Swedish and ) is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the Will and testament, will of Sweden, Swedish industrialist, inventor, and armaments manufacturer Alfred Nobel, along with the prizes in Nobe ...

in 1965, U.S. President

Lyndon B. Johnson Lyndon Baines Johnson (; August 27, 1908January 22, 1973), also known as LBJ, was the 36th president of the United States, serving from 1963 to 1969. He became president after the assassination of John F. Kennedy, under whom he had served a ...

said in his congratulatory letter: "Your UNICEF Trick or Treat Day has helped turn a holiday too often marred by youthful vandalism into a program of basic training in world citizenship." In 1967, Johnson declared Halloween, October 31, to be "UNICEF Day" in the United States; by 1969, 3.5 million American children were trick-or-treating for donations. Children (and adults) in the U.S. have collected more than $175 million for Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF. Donations to Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF support UNICEF's global programing, but in 2005, half of the proceeds were targeted to a domestic cause, aiding victims of

Hurricane Katrina Hurricane Katrina was a powerful, devastating and historic tropical cyclone that caused 1,392 fatalities and damages estimated at $125 billion in late August 2005, particularly in the city of New Orleans and its surrounding area. ...

. In 2008, the U.S. Fund for UNICEF introduced

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donations as well as a

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and

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page. In 2014, the U.S. Fund for UNICEF partnered with Crowdrise to expand the campaign's online presence, allowing participants to create personal fundraising web pages in addition to traditional door-to-door trick-or-treating. Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF has also partnered with Coinstar to allow customers to submit their donations through Coinstar machines. The program has also expanded outside of the United States. UNICEF in Canada began Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF in 1955. The campaign was rebranded after the Government of Canada declared October 31 of each year "National UNICEF Day" in 2000. In 2006, UNICEF Canada discontinued the collection box part of their program, focusing instead on in-classroom fundraising and community engagement. In 2015, UNICEF Canada celebrated 60 years of the National UNICEF Day program having raised more than .

References

{{Reflist, 30em, refs= {{cite book , last=Bannatyne , first=Lesley , title=Halloween: An American Holiday, an American History , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oNmZBAAAQBAJ&pg=PT152 , year=1998 , publisher=Pelican Publishing Company , isbn=978-1-4556-0553-8 , page=152 {{cite news , last=Byroads , first=Marjorie , url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=o0YLAAAAIBAJ&sjid=TVIDAAAAIBAJ&pg=6989,1150485&dq=trick+or+treat+for+unicef , title=A little child shall lead them (trick or treat for UNICEF) , accessdate=2008-10-20 , newspaper=The Bryan Times , date=October 20, 1970 {{cite news , last=Winerip , first=Michael , url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F0CEEDD1131F932A05753C1A965958260&scp=5&sq=trick%20or% , title=At Halloween, Unicef Faces Declining Collections in U.S. , accessdate=2008-10-20 , newspaper=The New York Times , date=October 31, 1993 {{cite news , url=http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/unicef-ends-halloween-program-in-canada-1.618474 , title=UNICEF ends Halloween program in Canada , accessdate=2017-10-29 , website=CBC , department=News , date=May 30, 2006 {{cite web , url=http://www.unicef.org/support/14884.html , title=Support UNICEF , accessdate=2008-10-20, publisher=UNICEF {{cite web , last=Smylie , first=James H. , url=http://pres-outlook.org/2000/10/presbyterians-initiated-unicefs-trick-or-treat-program-50-years-ago/ , title=Presbyterians initiated UNICEF's 'Trick-or-Treat' program 50 years ago , accessdate=2017-10-30 , newspaper=The Presbyterian Outlook , date=October 31, 2000 {{cite report , author=UNICEF , url=http://www.unicef.org/partner/partner.pdf , title=America's Partnership with UNICEF: A report to the United States on the impact of its contribution to UNICEF from 1985 to 1995 , accessdate=2009-10-23 , date=March 1997 , format=PDF {{cite web , last=Li , first=Kun , url=http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/usa_36347.html , title=Goodwill Ambassador Sarah Jessica Parker helps launch 'Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF' , accessdate=2008-10-20 , publisher=UNICEF , date=October 10, 2006 {{Cite news , last=Rusk , first=Howard A. , title=19th Year for UNICEF; 3.5 Million Children 'Trick or Treat' On Friday to Aid Young of World , newspaper=The New York Times , date=October 26, 1969 {{cite web , url=http://www.cf-hst.net/UNICEF-TEMP/memorablia/nobel-prize/documents/congressional-record-unicef-day.pdf , last=Kastenmeier , first=Robert , authorlink=Robert Kastenmeier , title=UNICEF and the 1965 Nobel Peace Prize , accessdate=2008-10-20 , work=Congressional Record , publisher=United States Government Printing Office , date=March 3, 1966 , format=PDF {{cite magazine, last=Maul, first=Kimberly, url=http://www.prweekus.com/Trick-or-Treat-hits-Internet/article/119576/ , title=Trick-or-Treat hits Internet , accessdate=2009-10-23, magazine=PRWeek, date=2008-10-16 {{cite news , last=Conwell , first=Vikki , title=Good Works , url=http://w3.nexis.com/new/docview/getDocForCuiReq?lni=4HDN-B450-TX2J-4268&csi=8379&oc=00240&perma=true , accessdate=2013-05-21 , newspaper=The Atlanta Journal-Constitution , date=October 26, 2005 , url-access=subscription {{cite press release , title=Iconic Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF Campaign Goes Digital with 2014 Spokesperson Zendaya , date=September 2, 2014 , url=https://www.unicefusa.org/press/releases/iconic-trick-or-treat-unicef-campaign-goes-digital-2014-spokesperson-zendaya/19056 , website=UnicefUSA , accessdate=2017-10-30 {{cite press release , title=Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF continues to make a difference in the lives of the world's children during October , date=June 7, 2011 , url=https://www.unicefusa.org/press/releases/trick-or-treat-unicef-continues-make-difference-lives-worlds-children-during-october , website=UnicefUSA , accessdate=2017-10-30 {{Cite web , url=http://www.unicef.ca/en/donate/article/national-unicef-day , title=National UNICEF Day , last= , first= , date= , website=UNICEF Canada , access-date=2016-09-09

External links

Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF profileTrick-or-Treat for UNICEF United StatesTrick-or-Treat for UNICEF 2015Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF CanadaUNICEF Hong KongNational UNICEF Day in Canada
Charity fundraisers UNICEF Halloween events in the United States