During the month of March, Poly’s UNICEF club is participating in the Gravity Water Campaign.
UNICEF is the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund which raises money to aid children in developing countries who face poverty. The Gravity Water Campaign allows for the club to help raise money for a clean water filtration system for Poly’s sister school, Shree Bagdevi Secondary School, in Nepal.
The Gravity Water Campaign is an extremely important one that our UNICEF club has participated in since May of 2021. Alexis Lam, co-president of Poly UNICEF, said, “The donations we have been collecting have been accumulated over the course of this year. We are continuing to raise money until the end of March.”
“The campaign allows us to spread awareness about the global water crisis,” Lam explained. The global water crisis has affected millions of people across the entire world, and Gravity Water allows organizations, like UNICEF, to bring awareness to this crisis. “The campaign spreads awareness particularly about how the water crisis affects children and schools in countries that don’t have access to clean drinking water,” Lam said.
In order to raise money for the water filtration system, the UNICEF club has ended up coming up with creative rewards based on the amount of money raised. “UNICEF has gotten donations for the campaign through having a dare challenge where cabinet members will complete dares at certain donation goalposts,” explained Victoria Heng, the Head Chair of Communications with the Cambodian Health Professionals Association of America. These challenges, which range from eating a full lemon after raising five dollars to wearing a Spider-Man suit to school for raising 100 dollars, have been unique ways to motivate club members to continue donating to the campaign.
Gravity Water is one of many water-related campaigns Poly UNICEF has participated in. Along with raising money to install a clean water filtration system, the club has also helped raise awareness for the water crisis in general. On January 14, the club ran a virtual “Walk for Water” simulation, where club members joined together to make “choose your own adventure” type decisions on Zoom. The simulation demonstrated the realities of countries who have limited water access by putting members in the shoes of a young girl who lives in a village with little water.
Although raising money became a challenge during the pandemic, UNICEF has managed to bounce back strongly and continue to work with and raise money for Gravity Water. Those who wish to donate can do so through Venmo to @alexis_lam, or donate during club meetings, which are every Wednesday at lunch in Room 215.