Vancouver Sun
Say it ain't so. After 50 years, we will no longer have little Mikey or Jessica at Halloween asking us to drop pennies -- oh, and by the way, candy, too, if you could -- into the little orange UNICEF boxes hanging around their necks.
UNICEF Canada has decided it will no longer hand out its boxes at 7,000 Canadian schools to children going trick-or-treating on Oct. 31.
One reason makes sense: The process of separating and counting the pennies, nickels and dimes people drop in is cumbersome and logistically complex.
But the second ostensible reason is perplexing, to say the least. UNICEF Quebec told La Presse that some parents had "expressed worries about the safety of kids who collected pennies."
But parent groups said they had never heard of such complaints. And it's difficult to imagine how it could constitute a danger -- unlike, say, a razor blade in an apple that some sick type finds funny. No one's ever heard of little kids accompanied by their parents being taxed for their UNICEF money.
Granted, the counting of hundreds of millions of pennies is not efficient. But it still seems a shame.
In the last half-century, Canadian kids have collected $91 million for UNICEF. Last year, it was $3 million.
UNICEF says it will replace the Halloween drive by educational DVDs and will incite kids to launch their own campaigns. That sounds iffy.
It might be more work and initiative than most kids -- or, more likely, Mom and Dad -- can muster.
On the other hand, kids collecting petty cash in a little piggy bank from complete strangers on a night when all their senses are focused on treats is an excellent balance.
It gives the child a personal connection to a concept larger than oneself -- invaluable at that self-centred age.
It's tempting to ask UNICEF to reconsider -- and get kids to help with the counting.
If UNICEF should, perchance, reconsider its decision, might we be so bold as to suggest that people drop in, say, a nickel or two, or a dime or two -- or a quarter?
Fifty kids in one night might cost you, at the top end, $12.50. A bargain at twice the price, considering the charity's admirable work.
And if UNICEF does scrap the practice irrevocably, might we suggest that you contribute to it anyway?
Say it ain't so. After 50 years, we will no longer have little Mikey or Jessica at Halloween asking us to drop pennies -- oh, and by the way, candy, too, if you could -- into the little orange UNICEF boxes hanging around their necks.
UNICEF Canada has decided it will no longer hand out its boxes at 7,000 Canadian schools to children going trick-or-treating on Oct. 31.
One reason makes sense: The process of separating and counting the pennies, nickels and dimes people drop in is cumbersome and logistically complex.
But the second ostensible reason is perplexing, to say the least. UNICEF Quebec told La Presse that some parents had "expressed worries about the safety of kids who collected pennies."
But parent groups said they had never heard of such complaints. And it's difficult to imagine how it could constitute a danger -- unlike, say, a razor blade in an apple that some sick type finds funny. No one's ever heard of little kids accompanied by their parents being taxed for their UNICEF money.
Granted, the counting of hundreds of millions of pennies is not efficient. But it still seems a shame.
In the last half-century, Canadian kids have collected $91 million for UNICEF. Last year, it was $3 million.
UNICEF says it will replace the Halloween drive by educational DVDs and will incite kids to launch their own campaigns. That sounds iffy.
It might be more work and initiative than most kids -- or, more likely, Mom and Dad -- can muster.
On the other hand, kids collecting petty cash in a little piggy bank from complete strangers on a night when all their senses are focused on treats is an excellent balance.
It gives the child a personal connection to a concept larger than oneself -- invaluable at that self-centred age.
It's tempting to ask UNICEF to reconsider -- and get kids to help with the counting.
If UNICEF should, perchance, reconsider its decision, might we be so bold as to suggest that people drop in, say, a nickel or two, or a dime or two -- or a quarter?
Fifty kids in one night might cost you, at the top end, $12.50. A bargain at twice the price, considering the charity's admirable work.
And if UNICEF does scrap the practice irrevocably, might we suggest that you contribute to it anyway?
© The Vancouver Sun 2006