Last month, the U.S. Fund for UNICEF hosted four regional student summits in different locations across the country. U.S. Fund for UNICEF student leaders came together to share challenges, successes and best practices for effectively educating, advocating and fundraising for UNICEF in their local communities. The summits took place in Houston, Los Angeles, Washington and Chicago. Over 400 UNICEF High School and Campus Initiative students participated in the summits, doubling the attendance of last year’s New York summit.

This past weekend, I, along with 17 U.S. Fund for UNICEF volunteers, learned more about human trafficking at Free2Walk Boston. An annual event sponsored by the anti-trafficking group Not For Sale, Free2Walk proclaims no human being should be for sale. The event comprised a two hour guided tour of sites of the abolitionist movement in Boston.

As the newest members of the UNICEF Campus Initiative National Council, we met from August 24–26 in New York City at the U.S. Fund for UNICEF (USF) for an exhilarating weekend of training and learning. During this training we were introduced to USF staff, leaders and advocates to better understand how, in partnership with USF, we will effectively support over 120 UNICEF clubs and hundreds of student leaders. By exchanging best practices and discussing opportunities for future collaborations, we developed a work plan to further strengthen the Campus Initiative in 2013.

We, the UNICEF Campus Initiative National Council and Alumni Council, had the privilege of attending U.S. Fund for UNICEF’s Annual Meeting on May 3-4. On Thursday, we dined with the U.S. Fund for UNICEF community including major donors, staff, board members, and partners. Caryl Stern and Fareed Zakaria welcomed everyone and reviewed the importance of UNICEF in reaching zero preventable deaths amongst children. Nuttin’ But Strings, the musical performance for the evening, left us breathless; it was a powerful and entertaining way to commence a very productive meeting.

Extreme hunger is a horrific feeling. Millions are facing this predicament due to the current food crisis and severe droughts in the Sahel. As a current member of the UNICEF Campus Initiative Alumni Association, I am excited to support UNICEF and the children of Sahel through the Live Below the Line campaign. I invite you to join me on this campaign to live on a $1.50/day for food from May 7-11 and raise funds for UNICEF’s lifesaving work in the Sahel.

Earlier this month I had the privilege of attending a screening of the documentary Not My Life, at American University in Washington D.C. The screening was coordinated by the End Trafficking team at UNICEF, our Global Citizenship Fellow Aarti Singh, and American University’s UNICEF Campus Initiative. The End Trafficking project is a U.S. Fund for UNICEF initiative that raises awareness about human trafficking and mobilizes communities to take meaningful action to help protect children.