The children going door to door with a cardboard UNICEF box this Halloween were raising money for children in Afghanistan.
According to FoxNews.com, this year is the first, where money collected on Halloween will be going to only one cause. Charles J. Lyons, president of the U.S. Fund for the United Nations Children’s Fund, said the money will go to help children in Afghanistan as well as those in refugee camps in neighboring countries.
Pakistan is just one of those countries allowing more than $2 million refugees who have fled from the war between the United States and Taliban forces.
UNICEF decided to collect the money solely for this purpose after President George W. Bush called on American children to send money to their fellow children in Afghanistan. UNICEF expected, on the Fox News website, that the children collecting would collect between $3 million and $5 million, most of it in pennies. As of press time, an exact amount was not determined.
According to Lyons, the response to ads placed in newspapers, calling for Americans to send money to help Afghan children, has been “phenomenal.”
“Individuals are writing us checks for $10,000, $20,000 for Afghanistan,” Lyons told Fox News. “People thought there would be reticence because of September 11, but the public response has been incredibly generous.”
According to the UNICEF website, the organization has sent supplies necessary to assist 1.25 million people during the attacks in Afghanistan. With the winter season soon approaching, and the attacks continuing, Afghan children are especially at risk without the necessary food, clothing and shelter.
“It’s going to take a lot to keep Afghan children alive through the next several months,” said Carol Bellamy, UNICEF’s Executive Director.