Starting Feb. 14-28, the UNICEF Club will try to raise money for water sanitization by incorporating the Cardinal Spirit Challenge. There will be 5-gallon jugs set up in the student union for each of the grades. Each student that is willing to donate (depending on what grade level they are in) will earn or lose Cardinal Spirit points. If students donate pennies and dollar bills, then they will earn points for their class. Students that donate silver coins such as dimes, nickels, and quarters to other grade levels will decrease their opponent’s points. 

Addition: 

• Penny =  +1 point
• $1= +100 points
• $5= +500 points
• $10= +1,000 points

Subtraction: 

• Nickel= -5 points 
• Dime= -10 points
• Quarter= -25 points

“I founded the UNICEF Club at Melissa High School because I wanted to be involved in humanitarian work and collaborate with students in global justice causes,” senior Thao Mac said. “I wanted to raise money to aid UNICEF’s water and hygiene programs for disadvantaged children, so I proposed a fun challenge involving water jugs. I decided to incorporate this idea with the MHS Spirit Challenge so that everyone can participate in this lifesaving cause.”

The overall purpose of UNICEF is to improve the lives of children both nutritionally and educationally. World Water Day is a yearly observance held on March 22 to raise awareness of the importance of drinking water.

“UNICEF operates in over 190 countries and has assisted children in countries such as Belize, Guatemala, the Central African Republic, Ivory Coast, Haiti, Iraq, Togo, and Vietnam in gaining access to clean water,” Mac said. “Drilling wells, installing water pumps, building latrines in impoverished communities, and [sponsoring] programs that teach life-saving hygiene to schoolchildren and their families are many projects aimed at improving the lives of these regions.”

According to UNICEF’s website, they have helped more than 1.6 billion people worldwide to have access to unpolluted water since 2000.

“The previous year, our club organized a hot chocolate fundraiser at the Melissa Christmas Bazaar to raise money for children in Yemen,” Mac said. “With the lovely support of Mrs. Pinckney, our club members were able to volunteer at the event and make it a success.”

On Dec. 4, the UNICEF club had their first fundraiser held at the Melissa Ridge Education Center for a humanitarian crisis in Yemen. As a result of the fundraiser, the club raised approximately $190. Anyone interested in seeing photos of the event can go to the official Melissa High School UNICEF Club’s Instagram feed.

“There will be an online fundraiser page where debit and credit card donations can go towards the cause,” Mac said. “I will post a QR code that people can scan if they wish to contribute digitally.”

During the fundraiser for the Yemen crisis, there were QR code scans hung on the walls for those who wished to donate but didn’t have any cash on them. The link for the online donations is at the official UNICEF website.