Unicef Unite

At East, another popular community service club that students can get involved in is UNICEF Unite. UNICEF Unite, a branch of the United Nations Unicef Organization, advocates for impoverished and disadvantaged children around the world. Their goal is to provide basic human needs for children in improvised areas or children whom have less fortunate circumstances. One of their most popular events includes their holiday card making event, occurring annually every December which aims to help kids in hospitals during the holidays all over the country. Below,is an interview with the club’s current President, Arsha Garg (‘23), and Vice President, Sehoon Kim (‘23).

Q&A with Arsha Garg (’23) and Sehoon Kim (’23)

Q: In what ways does your club give back to the community?
A: “We do a bunch of different events mainly focusing on community service or fundraising. For community service, one of our most popular events is holiday card making for kids in hospitals who can’t be home for the holidays. In terms of fundraising, we do things like bake sales or money donation boxes at school dances for some form of humanitarian aid. In addition to those, we also make advocacy posters and posts on Instagram.” -Kim (‘23)
“Yeah, our most recent one was for Mental Health Awareness Day which was near October 12th. So our social media chairs along with our research consultant made a post to spread awareness about how to take care of yourself and how important it is. Also, something we did last year, towards the end of May, since last year was difficult for a lot of people, we made mental health posters to put around the school to maybe cheer someone up that day.” -Garg (‘23)

Q: Why do you feel East needed this club?
A: “First of all, I feel like everyone is always trying to find ways to give to their community and gain community service hours not just to fill requirements, but because they want to help their community. But a lot of times that can be difficult and take a lot of commitment and people don’t have time to be really committed to a club like that. But, for all of our events, as a member, you don’t have to go to everything and we make all of our events really fun as well with music and snacks. What we try to focus on is making sure our members have fun while giving back to the community and making a difference.” -Garg (‘23)

Q: How much does it mean to you to organize this club?
A: “I mean, it’s really nice because as a freshman, I walked into that club, just going there because I was told “Oh I’m starting this club. You should come to the interest meeting” and by the end of it, I was touched by the mission statement of UNICEF which is to provide an equitable world for all children globally. So, to be the senior leading this club is kind of insane to think about, because at one point I was the freshman looking up to the seniors trying to find ways to give back and now I’m the senior planning the events trying to make sure other freshmen have the same ability I had.” -Garg (‘23)

Q: What events are you planning for this year?
A: “Well, we already started with Charity Miles.” -Kim (‘23)
“Yeah, it’s a year long thing. So people can join and it tracks as you walk around during the day. You join our team and get community service literally for just walking around and that gives back money to Unicef. And, we are going to do our holiday cards, for sure. That’s kind of a UNICEF tradition. Maybe, we’ll do another book drive where we collect books and give back through Book Smiles for kids who don’t have access. Oh, and we’re gonna do the mental health posters again. More bake sales and probably something with climate change — maybe something for Earth Day” -Garg (‘23)

Q: How have your events helped the community in prior years?
A:”Oh, one thing we did in sophomore year when it was all virtual, we got members to record themselves spreading awareness talking about something UNICEF has called WASH. It’s about water, sanitation and hygiene awareness and how some areas don’t have access to water. We made a 7 minute informational video about that and posted it on our Instagram and it was a nice way to spread awareness throughout the East community, even if everyone was at home.” -Garg (‘23)
“In freshman year, we did a talent show at a local hospice. I played the violin and Arsha and some other people did traditional indian dance which was really sweet for our local community.” -Kim (‘23)

Q: How can people get involved?
A: “We have our Instagram, @cheunicefunite, and our bio has the google classroom code.
Garg: We also have a remind or you can contact Ms. Casey or even dm any of our officers!”-Kim (‘23)