The Event: The Midwest regional office of the U.S. Fund for UNICEF welcomed 400 guests to the Four Seasons Hotel Chicago on April 17 for the 8th annual Hope Gala. Co-chaired by Bill Dietz and Miller Vance, the benefit raised funds in support of The Eliminate Project, UNICEF’s global campaign in partnership with Kiwanis International, to abolish maternal and neonatal tetanus (MNT).
Cause Célebre: “Where UNICEF goes, nobody else goes. There are no other safety nets,” said Rob Brown of Park Ridge, last-year’s gala chairman and board member. “The simple fact is that no organization on earth saves more children’s lives than UNICEF, period.”
Board member Laura Myntti of River Forest echoed that sentiment. “(UNICEF) can get around a Congolese warlord just because of the relationships they have,” she cited. “They’ve been doing it for a long time, they’ve got boots on the ground (and) they are really got at it.”
That kind of access has proven to be lifesaving. Throughout 190 countries and territories, UNICEF helps save more children’s lives than any other agency by providing health care and immunizations, clean water and sanitation, nutrition, education and emergency relief.
The deadly, but completely-preventable MNT takes the lives of nearly 50,000 newborns and women each year. UNICEF is able to immunize an individual for just $1.80 and has found that, by immunizing the mother, her future baby is automatically immunized because the lifesaving vaccine is passed on by the mother.
“So as I think about the other charities I’m involved with, there is no charity that makes better use of the resources than UNICEF,” said Brown.
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Bottom Line: The event raised $1.2 million for UNICEF’s lifesaving tetanus vaccines and healthcare for vulnerable mothers and babies around the globe.