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STAFF | EVENTS | NEWS | ACCELERATED CHILD SURVIVAL
VOLUNTEER | BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Staff
Casey Marsh, Director
Jessica Dolan, Major Gifts Officer
Laura Geiger, Development Officer
Elisabeth Kasdorf, Development Coordinator
The Midwest Region extends a special thank you to the extraordinary volunteer leaders who serve on our Board of Directors and President's Council.
Upcoming Events
Wine, Women and Shoes — Chicago 2008
The Midwest Regional Office of the U.S. Fund for UNICEF will hold the third annual Wine, Women & Shoes event at the River East Art Center on Thursday, October 2, 2008 from 6:00 to 9:30 pm.
Join us for a new and improved evening filled with scrumptious wine and beautiful shoes to support the work of UNICEF. This year's event will provide guests with the best Wine, Women & Shoes experience! Visit one of four bars located on the main floor to fill your wine glass and then enjoy the delicious buffet featuring a variety of hors d'oeuvres. Relax in the lounge and peruse shoes and a fabulous silent auction in our new, more spacious venue, the River East Art Center.
© Kezdy/2007
Last year, more than 650 guests enjoyed an exciting evening that brought together wines from some of Napa's finest vintners and shoes from Nordstrom. The event was sponsored by Nordstrom, Morgan Stanley, Energy BBDO, KPMG LLP, Macquarie Real Estate and the Macquarie Foundation, Kirkland & Ellis LLP, McDonald's Corporation, The Pampered Chef, and Starlink Worldwide. Wine, Women & Shoes 2007 netted $140,000 for UNICEF's Accelerated Child Survival Initiative (ACS).
© Kezdy/2007
Wine, Women & Shoes 2008 co-chairs Judy Fitzgerald of Macquarie Real Estate and Joe Silich of Morgan Stanley are leading this year's endeavor to raise funds for the Accelerated Child Survival Initiative. The goal of ACS is to save the lives of 3.2 million children by 2010 by providing low-cost, country-specific interventions, while building and solidifying the country's healthcare delivery system. The result is a single program that will produce groundbreaking results, fast: 800,000 children's lives saved in developing countries annually by 2010. The U.S. Fund for UNICEF's Accelerated Child Survival Initiative gives us each an unprecedented opportunity to ensure that the world's most vulnerable children have their best chance to survive and thrive.
General Admission tickets are $85—which includes a wine-tasting bar and access to four full bars serving a selection of red and white wines for your drinking pleasure, an extensive buffet with a selection of delicious hors d'oeuvres, the Nordstrom shoe boutique, amazing silent and live auction items, and the Nordstrom shoe raffle.
VIP Admission tickets are $185—which includes all of the benefits of General Admission, as well as an opportunity to taste premium wines from eleven vintners with the winemakers themselves in a more intimate VIP gallery where Nordstrom is hosting a special boutique featuring designer handbags.
To purchase tickets, please visit: www.brownpapertickets.com/event/37229
Stay tuned for further updates on Wine, Women & Shoes—Chicago 2008!
Join Team UNICEF at AIDS Run & Walk Chicago: Get moving to raise funds for UNICEF!
Spend a Saturday raising funds for a worthy cause while enjoying a beautiful 5K run or walk along Chicago's scenic lakefront! Head to Grant Park for the AIDS Run & Walk Chicago 2008. An annual event held by the AIDS Foundation of Chicago (AFC), the AIDS Run & Walk raises funds for, and awareness of, HIV/AIDS. As a member of AFC's CommunityDirect program, the U.S. Fund for UNICEF, Midwest Region will get back 100% of the funds raised by Team UNICEF and use those funds for the Accelerated Child Survival Initiative, which includes such life-saving interventions as anti-retrovirals for children with HIV/AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa.
When: Saturday, September 20, 2008
Location: Grant Park – Columbus & Balbo, Chicago Illinois
Distance: 5K Run and Walk (3.1 miles)
Start Time: 9:55 am (Run) / 10:00 am (Walk)
Register: Registration costs $25/registrant in advance or $30 the day of the event. To register for Team UNICEF, please follow these steps:
o Go to www.aidsrunwalk.org
o Click on Register Now!
o Complete the Participant Information Web Form
o Select Join an Existing Team
o Type "Team UNICEF" in the search box
o Click on Join for Team UNICEF and complete you registration!
Pledges: Participants are highly encouraged to raise a minimum of $50 in pledges! Personalize your fundraising page to get the word out!
Chip-Timed Results: All participants who sign up as a runner will receive a chip on race day to record their times. Chips will be collected immediately following the finish line.
Please contact Elisabeth Kasdorf at ekasdorf@unicefusa.org for further information.
Grab your friends and family and sign up today as members of Team UNICEF!
News and Past Events
Message of Hope 2008 – A Global Journey
On Saturday, April 12, 2008 the Midwest Regional Office of the U.S. Fund for UNICEF spread a message of hope to hundreds at the inaugural Message of Hope gala held at the InterContinental Hotel Chicago. Guests were delighted by the beautiful décor by Kehoe Designs that incorporated many of UNICEF's messages into the ambience. From the table tops to two gorgeous water walls, everyone knew why they were there—to raise funds for Accelerated Child Survival Initiative (ACS), a program to save the lives of children in sub-Saharan Africa
Guests enjoyed a cocktail hour that featured a silent auction and live music by the Jazz Links quintet; a group of Chicago area high school students. Following the cocktail hour, guests were treated to a performance by Muntu Dance Theatre of Chicago who energized the crowd with their traditional African dances. Don Lemon of CNN emceed the rest of the evening and welcomed special guest Dayle Haddon, the U.S. Fund for UNICEF's newest Celebrity Ambassador. The Message of Hope 2008 honoree award was presented to Energy BBDO for their wonderful support of UNICEF, particularly through their leadership with the TAP Project in Chicago. Tonise Paul, of Energy BBDO and the Midwest Regional Board of Directors, accepted the award on behalf of her team. Later in the evening, the crowd packed the dance floor for the main entertainer, Lynne Jordan and the Shivers.
Guests enjoyed a live auction featuring three wonderful items: a trip to Prague, a trip to the U.S. Fund for UNICEF's annual meeting in Atlanta, and the chance to donate to Accelerated Child Survival. Message of Hope 2008 raised nearly $480,000 for Accelerated Child Survival and helped to raise awareness of ACS and UNICEF.
Thanks to all of our guests and supporters as well as the wonderful volunteers who truly made this event possible. We would also like to give a special mention to our generous sponsors, including Beam Global Spirits & Wine, Delta Airlines Inc., InterContinental Hotel Chicago, Abbott Laboratories, Bayer Healthcare, Consumer Care, Credit Suisse, Energy BBDO, Pricewaterhouse Coopers, Joseph N. Silich, BMO Capital Markets, Kirkland & Ellis LLP, Paul and MaryAnn Harvey, Vince and Suzanne Hemmer, Hewitt Associates, Kate Neisser and Stephen Burns, The Rise Group, Dulcie Truitt, U.S. Equities Realty LLC, and the William Wrigley Jr. Company.
The Accelerated Child Survival Initiative
Accelerated Child Survival (ACS) is a new UNICEF initiative that identifies the weak links in impoverished countries' healthcare cycles that conspire to endanger children’s health. UNICEF works with local and national officials to target the underlying causes of these problems, and swiftly implements integrated strategies at every level, from grassroots to governments, to remove them.
ACS takes the most effective health interventions for children, newborns and pregnant women and bundles them into integrated, cost-effective packages that include childhood immunizations, vitamin A distribution, treatment of malaria, diarrhea, pneumonia and HIV/AIDS, prenatal care and support, and promotion of breastfeeding.
ACS also covers the costs of other vital supplies such as bed nets, equipment for refrigeration of medication, transportation, training and performance incentives for health staff, as well as supporting the development of health systems from the district to national level.
The U.S. Fund for UNICEF's Midwest Regional Office is taking the lead in raising the necessary funds to save these children's lives. There are 800,000 children in Chicago under the age of 18—the same number of children whose lives will be saved for each of the four years of our campaign—through this Initiative. Because every child's life—whether in Chicago of Africa—is worth saving, the Midwest Region inaugurated our first regional campaign in January 2007 with the goal of raising $6.5 million from individual donors by 2010 to support the Child Survival Initiative's groundbreaking work. We have already surpassed the $4 million mark!
Click here to learn more about ACS, or donate now to support the campaign.
Volunteer Opportunities
Volunteering at the Midwest Regional Office of the U.S. Fund for UNICEF is a great way to inform your community about the work UNICEF does—and to get involved in helping save children's lives around the world.
There are many ways that you can volunteer for UNICEF! If you are interested in volunteering locally in your community, consider conducting a UNICEF volunteer activity from our online volunteer center. The center includes several volunteer activities and resources such as new turn-key tool kits for you to use that provide step-by-step instructions for conducting awareness-building, fundraising or advocacy activities in your community, an online bulletin board for you to share ideas and give feedback, a calendar of local events and more.
To become involved in the Chicago area, consider volunteering at one of our special events. Duties include everything from selling raffle tickets and greeting guests to set-up assistance and auction monitors. Participating in one of our events is the perfect opportunity for you to meet new people, have a great night out with some friends and help raise funds for UNICEF! If you're looking for an activity to get the whole family involved, join Team UNICEF at the upcoming AIDS Run & Walk Chicago on Saturday, September 20, 2008. For additional information, please see above.
If you are interested in volunteering with the U.S. Fund for UNICEF, Midwest Region please contact Elisabeth Kasdorf at ekasdorf@unicefusa.org.
Internship Opportunities
College students assist in a number of areas in the Midwest Regional Office. Interns assist with everything from the planning of special events to research projects. Often, interns are given specific projects within a designated area. Internships can be done for course credit during summer, fall/winter and spring. If interested, please forward a resume and cover letter to Elisabeth Kasdorf at ekasdorf@unicefusa.org.
Advocacy Council
Concerned citizens participate in letter-writing campaigns to their elected representatives on topics of major interest to UNICEF and the U.S. Fund. These campaigns are important for the visibility they bring to vital issues in the developing world. To participate online, click here.
Board of Directors
|
Anju Ahuja |
Marla Kreindler |
President's Council
|
Neal Ball |
Evangeline Gouletas |
