Starting a UNICEF Club – 8/12/26

I’ve always been into leadership and helping people in need. In 5th grade, I did a clothing drive for donations at Goodwill, and I’m starting a nonprofit that gives old sports equipment from people’s houses into athletic stores, gyms, and my school. But recently, I was on Instagram when I saw the account “UNICEF Clubs”. I knew what UNICEF was, but did I really think about them often? Researching about them made me learn a lot, about how they help the children with malnutrition in underdeveloped countries using packages of food that saves their lives, and all for a good cause.

The official UNICEF logo!

I learned that you could actually start a UNICEF club in your school, and it turned out that my school didn’t have one. I gathered up some of my friends and applied to be a UNICEF club. We made posters, and Instagram account, and advertisements to join UNICEF and why. And 2 weeks ago, we got approved for being a club.

Starting a club is majorly overwhelming. I had multiple questions like how should we do fundraisers, and will people actually participate? All of these anxious questions were put to rest when the UNICEF associates and fellow leaders were super kind and answered any questions. They also sent me a care package with tons of shirts, stickers, posters, flags, and any advertisement boxes we would need (like Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF).

An image of a UNICEF volunteer helping people in other countries

We had a Club Fest a month ago, advertising the school clubs that our school offers and me and my fellow club leaders/friends had so much fun! We were able to talk to parents of students, give them advice, and converse with peers and my classmates to see what clubs they were going to join. We have a total of 11 club members this year, which was a lot more than I expected for the first year and I’m already looking forward to have fun and educational fundraisers for the UNICEF club.

My fellow club leaders with our UNICEF club board (faces blocked out for privacy)!

The events we were planning were to have a children’s supply drive at our school, an 80th UNICEF anniversary celebration with bracelet making, Rose-making for UNICEF, and a lemonade stand for runners. We also have created a social media account (if you want to hit a follow, it’s @bisv.unicef on Instagram!!), that allows us to advertise and tells our peers which dates our events land on and where they would take place.

Overall, the club making process made me and my club leaders nervous, but the people who work for UNICEF are so kind and supportive, and you could tell they take their job serious and joyfully. I am so excited to start this school year with a thriving club and fundraisers that are fun for everyone! Thanks for reading, and if you haven’t already, check my past posts to catch up.