Fieldnotes: Blogging on UNICEF's child survival work in the field

I’ve blogged before about our search for Tap Project City Coordinators in Atlanta, Chicago, Denver, Los Angeles, New York City, San Francisco and Washington D.C., and I am happy to report that we have identified 34 individuals from across the country who traveled last weekend to Atlanta, Georgia for training, orientation and action planning.

© US Fund for UNICEF, 2008/R. Swanson

Thirty-four volunteers from around the country attended the 2009 Tap Project City Coordinator orientatation on October 17-19, 2008, in Atlanta, Georgia.

While all communities are invited to join the 2009 Tap Project, City Coordinators will help recruit volunteers and restaurants to participate in the camapaign, conduct local trainings, coordinate awareness-building campaigns and support participating restaurants.

Although a person can live without food for more than a month, a person can only live without water for approximately one week. Lack of clean water is the second largest killer of children under five. Every day, 4,200 children die of water-related diseases. By participating in the Tap Project, these enthusiastic and passionate volunteers are helping UNICEF to reduce the daily number of needless deaths to zero—just one single dollar raised can provide a child with safe drinking water for 40 days.

The U.S. Fund for UNICEF's volunteer team is very excited to officially welcome our City Coordinators into our family, and we can’t wait to see how they implement the Tap Project into their communities. Stay tuned on how you can become a Tap Project Campaign Volunteer in your community. And in the meantime, please visit our Online Volunteer Center to take part in other volunteer activities.

A few weeks ago, I blogged about our call for Tap Project Volunteer City Coordinators in seven cities. We’ve had a great response form many of the cities and are excited to be building our teams in them. However, we are continuing to accept applications for Denver and Chicago.

A brief position overview can be found in the volunteer section of the Tap Project website. If you are interested in becoming a Tap Project City Coordinator, please send your cover letter and resume to volunteer@unicefusa.org.

And if you are interested in volunteering for the Tap Project but not as a city coordinator, stay tuned! We will soon be asking volunteers across the country to join us again in recruiting restaurants, promoting the Tap Project and more.

Did you volunteer last year for the Tap Project? Dine in a participating restaurant? Tell us about it. Post your comments here.

It's hard to believe it's that time again, but the 2009 Tap Project is just around the corner. Here at the U.S. Fund for UNICEF, we have been celebrating last year’s success and getting ready for next year. We will soon be asking volunteers across the country to join us again in recruiting restaurants, promoting the Tap Project and more—so stay tuned for upcoming information.

Tap Project City Coordinator positions available

We’re calling for committed Tap Project City Coordinators to help plan and implement the Tap Project in seven key locations (3-5 volunteer positions in each city, depending on location); Atlanta, Chicago, Denver, New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Washington, DC.

© US Fund for UNICEF, 2008

2008 Tap Project City Coordinators for New York City (left to right) Rina, Spencer, Emily and Xi pose for a photo taken inside the U.S. Fund for UNICEF national office.

Volunteers wishing to pursue a City Coordinator position with the Tap Project should be prepared to make this role an important priority in their daily lives, especially as World Water Week approaches. These positions offer volunteers a unique and exciting opportunity to shape their UNICEF Volunteer experience and the Tap Project in their communities, while gaining valuable leadership and nonprofit management skills. If you are a registered volunteer, log on to the Online Volunteer Center, and click on “What’s new.” You’ll be taken to the Tap Project Action Center where you can review the position description and learn how to apply to be a City Coordinator.

If you are interested in applying and are located in one of the seven cities above, but not a registered volunteer, please register today, or email volunteer@unicefusa.org for a position description.

We enjoyed great support from our Tap Project volunteers this year during World Water Week, and we want to keep that momentum going.

U.S. Fund for UNICEF volunteers can participate in programs year-round that support our education, advocacy and fundraising efforts. And that’s why we’ll be asking both Tap Project volunteers and our previously registered volunteers to participate in UNICEF’s Unite for Child Survival: Advocacy Week. Beginning April 28th, we’ll be asking our volunteers and supporters to become acquainted with three issues very important to UNICEF, and asking you to take action every day during that week.

We’ll be sending announcements and reminders between now and then, and developing some new resources including an online training module, discussion questions, and more. Stay tuned for updates.

If you are interested in getting involved now, check out our new online volunteer center by clicking here and registering as a new volunteer!

	© U.S. Fund for UNICEF/Monica Chang
	Two Tap Project Volunteers explain how to implement the Tap Project to the manager of a New York City restaurant.

Twenty two hundred and three volunteers signed up between January 1 and March 20 to help us recruit restaurants, promote the Tap Project locally, and most importantly, raise awareness about the lack of safe drinking water across the globe.

Our volunteers are the best: from conducting meetings to recruiting restaurants, from training staff to creating their own YouTube videos, from promoting the Tap Project in the media and online, to dining at a participating restaurant during World Water Week, 2,203 of our most loyal supporters helped us execute an incredibly successful Tap Project volunteer campaign.

From everyone on the volunteer team (Rachael, Kirsten, Danny and me), a heartfelt thanks goes to each and every one of our volunteers, and here’s to next year!

The Empire State Building went blue for the Tap Project last night! Just one of the many amazing things going on across the country as people join together to help children everywhere get access to clean, lifesaving water.

If you've got pictures of your Tap activities, send 'em our way -- we'll post them here.

Happy Tapping.

It was the perfect opportunity to catch-up, enjoy tasty food and drink, and help provide clean drinking water to kids around the world – pretty good accomplishments for a Monday night.

Remember, the Tap Project culminates this Saturday, which is also World Water Day. So go out, dine and lend a helping hand to children around the world.

And if you're in NYC tonight, look up! The Empire State Building is going blue for the Tap Project...

UNICEF Ambassador Lucy Liu just returned from Ivory Coast and put together the following video report -- check it out!

Have you dined at a Tap-participating restaurant yet this week?

The Tap Project is in full swing this week, and newspapers like The New York Times, USA Today and The Wall Street Journal ran prominent ads in today’s editions highlighting the week-long event. Regional papers like the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and The Denver Post also advertised the campaign, which urges diners to pay one dollar for tap water they would normally get for free. Proceeds fund UNICEF’s lifesaving water programs.

So grab your friends and help children around the world by having dinner at any Tap participating restaurant across the country.

Next week is World Water Week and the start of the Tap Project.

Start your dinner plans now and make a reservation online through OpenTable,
a great website that includes Tap Project participating restaurants across
the country. It’s fast and easy!

In addition, city pages have important information for diners, volunteers, and just about anyone interested in learning more about World Water Week. And remember, if your community is not on the list of featured cities, you can still register your hometown restaurants for Tap.

Any thoughts on the featured logos? How would you have represented your town or city? Check out your local Tap Project page and let us know what you think!

It was soooo easy!

In less than an hour, I recruited three restaurants in my New York City neighborhood to participate in the Tap Project. All I did was explain how simple it is to join, the free publicity Tap Project generates through websites and local media, and all the good a one dollar donation can do (for example, with one dollar UNICEF can provide up to 40 gallons of clean, drinking water). And voila! They registered.

© U.S.Fund for UNICEF

Me (on the left) and the very cool staff at Ricardo's Steakhouse, a new Tap participant.

Last year, 300 restaurants participated in New York City. And with the Tap Project campaign going national this year, we hope to multiply that number many times through our corps of volunteers.

Some volunteers have started organizing on social networking websites. In San Antonio, they coordinate via Meetup.com, in Washington D.C. it’s through Idealist.org. And then there’s Facebook, where volunteers from all over the country come together.

Restaurant and food blogs like Kelly’s Grape Times, Grub Street and Peter’s Mostly Food have also joined the effort.

Only three weeks left before World Water Week. Have you registered restaurants? Any suggestions for volunteers? Tell us about it.

Chores. They’re a drag and if you’re a kid, you probably have a few to do every week. But while chores in America may mean washing dishes or mowing the lawn, many kids in developing countries have the grueling and daily task of collecting water from distant streams and springs. Not only is it backbreaking work, hauling water can take several hours and keeps children out of school.

With that in mind, students in the Big Apple have helped organize the NYC Tap Project Water Walk. On March 15, families and kids from fourth to twelfth grade will carry up to a gallon of water in a gesture of solidarity with children who must fetch water every day. These students are helping fund UNICEF programs through sponsorships. And a little goes a long way! For example, with a dollar UNICEF can provide 40 liters of safe drinking water.

So register today if you’re a New York City student and help UNICEF save kids’ lives!

The countdown begins! We are officially a month away from World Water Day and from turning Tap on full blast. Check out our new public service announcement, which will air in more than 600 local TV stations across the country in the next few weeks.

At the top of the Tap Project to-do list for volunteers this weekend is registering restaurants. I plan to enlist some restaurants in my neighborhood and raise my water IQ by checking out other water-awareness events.

Here in New York City, the American Museum of Natural History is currently showing Water: H20 = Life, a fascinating exhibit that explores the importance and impact this precious resource has on communities and ecosystems around the world. For those of you in Washington D.C., you can attend the Environmental Film Festival, which pays tribute to World Water Day by showcasing water-themed international films.

If you’re looking for more “active” events — and a good excuse to burn the carbs from your Tap dinner –– click on the World Water Day website for info on walks in Los Angeles, Seattle and New York.

Besides taking part in Tap (of course!), is there anything else you’re planning to do during World Water Week?

We're so excited that the Tap Project is growing so quickly....more than 1,200 Tap Project Volunteers have registered in under six weeks! to help UNICEF provide children around the world with clean, safe water

Volunteers around the country are taking action and using all the resources available to them, including the Tap Project Restaurant Online Trainings or the customizable Tap Project flyers.

We hope you'll join us, get organized and promote the Tap Project in your community! Register today at tapproject.org/volunteer.

Dina Montes is on staff at the U.S. Fund for UNICEF and will be blogging regularly about the Tap Project. This is her first post.

With World Water Day just a month away, newspapers and magazines articles are generating buzz. The March issue of Family Circle reminds readers to save the date (March 22) for Tap, while a Feb. 13 article in the New York Times business section covers the U.S. Fund’s partnership with 14 top advertising agencies across the country and the cool, cutting-edge ad copy created in cities like Los Angeles and Chicago. The fabulous work is pro-bono, which means more money goes straight to UNICEF water programs!

Smaller cities like Richmond, Va. are also participating this year and dishing out info on Tap. Just this week, the Richmond Times-Dispatch published a story about a group of graduate students who created an ambitious marketing campaign for the Tap Project. It’s just one great example of how everyone can get involved in this innovative, grassroots fundraiser.

Are you involved in the Tap Project? Tell us about it!

The U.S. Fund for UNICEF has launched the Tap Project, a nationwide campaign that helps UNICEF provide safe water for children around the world, while celebrating the clean and accessible drinking water available in the United States.

With our volunteers’ help, communities in the U.S. will become more aware of the water crisis around the world and understand how they can help.

All of our registered Tap Project Volunteers are invited to a day of information, interaction and collaboration. A Tap Project Volunteer Training Day is coming to the following cities near you!

• Saturday, February 9th, Atlanta Regional Training at Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University
• Saturday, February 9th, Denver Regional Training at St. Mary's Academy
• Saturday, February 23rd, San Francisco Regional Training at University of California, San Francisco

Volunteers will have the opportunity to learn from Tap Project city coordinators, national UNICEF staff, issues experts, and invited guests.

To sign up as a volunteer and to attend a Regional Training Day, register at the Tap Project site.

As a chef, I rely on clean water every day. In my kitchens, we use water for everything from rinsing produce to washing dishes. I’m sure you count on clean water running every time you turn the tap on too.

But did you know that 21 percent of children living in the developing world do not have access to clean water? UNICEF tells us that one in five children do not have the clean water they need to thrive.

But that’s where the Tap Project comes in. Today, more than 250 New York City area restaurants, including my own, will ask their customers to donate $1 for the tap water they usually drink for free. All of the proceeds will be donated to UNICEF, which will use the money to support clean water programs and save children’s lives across the world. Just $1 can provide safe drinking water for a child for 40 days.

So I hope that you will join me in supporting this lifesaving project. You can find a list of restaurants that are participating here.

Together, we can make a difference to save children’s lives on World Water Day.

The Tap Project launches tomorrow. Over 250 New York City restaurants will invite their diners to pay $1 for the tap water they normally enjoy for free. All the money raised will help UNICEF provide safe drinking water to children around the world.

If you are in the New York City area, please join us in dining out tomorrow night at a participating restaurant. I made my reservations, have you?

If you won't be able to dine out with us tomorrow night, please consider marking a donation in support of UNICEF's clean water programs.

You can also help by spreading the word about the Tap Project and UNICEF's efforts to bring clean water to kids around the world. Our thanks to the many bloggers who are helping us talk Tap. Here's some Tap Project posts we thought you might like to see: Cravings, Restaurant Girl, and Minnie's Musings.

This Thursday, March 22, is World Water Day. I know what some of you are thinking: Here we go again, one more manufactured holiday to get people to pay attention to another issue! And, you would be right. Yes, the purpose of World Water Day is to put a spotlight on the importance of clean and safe water, something we all have access to in the US, and rarely even ponder. But many children and their families in developing countries don’t have this luxury.

Here’s why I’m excited about World Water day and why you can be too. Almost 300 restaurants in the New York area are going to help raise money and awareness about the importance of clean water and it’s scarcity in developing nations by participating in the Tap Project.

When you dine at one of the participating restaurants, you will be asked to pay $1 for NYC’s finest tap water. All donations will go to support UNICEF’s water programs and, in turn, can save and improve children’s lives around the world. With these contributions, UNICEF will be able to install more water pumps and increase access to clean water for kids.

So, how can just installing water pumps save lives? So many ways…most directly is that when kids drink dirty water, they can die from dysentery and diarrheal disease. Providing kids access to clean water will prevent this. Lack of access to water pumps force young women to travel miles to collect the water and bring it back to their village. In places of heavy conflict, like Darfur, collecting water is essentially risking your life. These women may be raped or killed in the process of gathering the water they need to survive.

It's mind boggling to think that lack of access to water can have such impacts for kids and their families.

Water: For me it’s simple, I turn on my tap and out it comes. I shower in it, cook with it, and I drink it straight from the tap. Until I started working for UNICEF, never did I realize how lucky I was to do all of the above.

So on World Water Day, March 22, if you can dine in a Tap Project restaurant, please do. Or, go to Starbucks. They are also helping in the effort for clean water. Then, the next time you turn on your tap to take a sip of water, just simply close your eyes and think about how fortunate you are.