Father's Day Gifts That Help Keep Children Healthy, Happy and Safe
Are you looking for a unique way to say "thank you" to your dad this Father's Day? Dedicating a UNICEF Inspired Gift to your father is a great way to take the caring he's shown to you and pay it forward to help children in need.
UNICEF Inspired Gifts aren't your average Father's Day gifts. They are essential supplies that help children survive in some of the world's toughest places. Things like purification tablets that make water safe to drink, learning materials that help refugee children stay hopeful about their futures, Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food that can help bring a severely malnourished child back to life and vaccines that ward off deadly, preventable diseases. You can even buy a Father's Day Gift Pack to help families cope and stay safe during an emergency.
Families living in poverty, crisis and conflict can find all these essentials very hard to come by. But the UNICEF Inspired Gifts collection makes giving them easy. Simply choose your gift and dedicate it to your dad using one of our Father's Day eGreetings. UNICEF will take it from there, delivering the supplies to dads and moms who are having difficulty providing for their kids.
Plus, you don't have to spend a lot to make a difference. As little as $10 can buy 20 jump ropes; $19 is enough to protect 100 kids from polio. If you want to go all out in Dad's honor — or pool resources with other family members — $442 can fund a pump that will bring water to an entire village! Every UNICEF Inspired Gift is guaranteed to make a world of difference, because UNICEF will make sure it gets to the children who need it most.
UNICEF and you can help a baby get the very best start in life. UNICEF Inspired Child Health gifts offer everything from a $90 supply of therapeutic milk, which can treat three children suffering from severe acute malnutrition, to the Healthy Start Gift Basket, which includes blankets, mosquito nets, polio vaccines, first aid kits, oral rehydration salts and essential water and hygiene supplies.
Ho, 27, is a hands-on father since his wife gave birth to their baby boy, Hao, in January at a hospital in Vietnam’s Kon Tum province. “I shed tears when I saw my wife in pain during birth. I held her hand all the time in the hospital to comfort and encourage her,” recalls Ho. “When I heard my son cry for the first time, I felt overjoyed to be a father.” Hao received vital immunizations right after birth at the UNICEF-supported hospital, which also offers parenting classes that are helping Ho be a better dad and husband: “Now, I try to help my wife and my son whenever I can. I cook for them and I also bathe our son.” © UNICEF/UNI279508/Viet Hung
Sending an Inspired Gift can help fathers protect their children from preventable diseases. The COVID-19 lockdown suspended public transportation in Uganda, where Herbert and his daughter Donatel (above) live, but that didn’t stop him from making sure she got her checkup and polio vaccines. “I am responsible for her health,” says Herbert, who, even after their grueling two-hour journey to the nearest clinic, still kept Donatel smiling. “I know that vaccines will strengthen her immune system.” © UNICEF/UNI325805/Abdul
UNICEF knows that a child's health is key to his or her ability to learn, but not all children are ensured their right to an education. In 2019, UNICEF did its part by providing more than 12 million children with education or early learning materials. This Father's Day, you can help even more kids excel at school by purchasing a UNICEF Inspired education gift of pencils, exercise books, backpacks or a solar-powered light for doing homework at night.
You can also send a UNICEF Inspired Gift of art supplies or math materials to equip entire schools and learning centers. Above, Chetan is enjoying some time with his child, Ryan, at one of India’s UNICEF-supported Anganwadi centers, where the toddler is getting to learn, play and develop the skills he will need for a lifetime of learning. By purchasing an Early Childhood Development Kit in Dad's honor this Father's Day, you can help children like Ryan build the early-learning foundations they need to go farther in school — and in their futures. © UNICEF/UNI334364/ Bhardwa
In Côte d'Ivoire, the COVID-19 pandemic has shuttered schools and turned fathers like Roger, above with his 4-year-old daughter, Claire, into teachers. UNICEF and the Ministry of Education have created educational radio and television broadcasts to help parents take on the task of homeschooling their children. As of May, these broadcasts had reached over 837,000 children, and by purchasing an Inspired Gift you and your dad can help reach even more. $60 is all it takes to send all the supplies a child needs to stay learning, healthy and safe, including a solar-powered radio plus water purifying tablets, soap, exercise books, pencils and a sealable water bucket. © UNICEF/UNI317542// Frank Dejongh
Rishitha and her dad (above, playing catch) live in India, where 118 million jobs lost due to the coronavirus lockdown have triggered massive reverse migration from cities to rural areas like Telengana State, which the family calls home. UNICEF is working to provide continued access to essential health and nutrition services for women, children and vulnerable families on the move. But the socio-economic emergency has placed tremendous strain on families who already struggle to protect their children from climate-change-related seasonal heat waves and cyclones.
Even when times are tough, however, children find a way to play, which UNICEF knows is vital to helping them counteract stress and feed their developing brains. The UNICEF Inspired Gifts collection offers a range of sports equipment, including volleyballs, jump ropes, soccer balls and basketballs, all of which protect vulnerable kids' right to reap the many benefits of play. © UNICEF/UNI310884/Altaf Ahmad
Children learn a lot from their dads, but one of the most important lessons is how to wash their hands. Here, a father and his daughter wash their hands at the informal settlement where they live in Johannesburg, South Africa. UNICEF is now helping by providing water and hygiene supplies to protect families like them from the spread of COVID-19. With just $25, you can provide 100 bars of soap to health centers in communities like this, where families need all the help they can get to keep their children safe and healthy. © UNICEF/UNI320641/Mohamed
Top Photo: Dads teach their kids a lot of things, but sometimes they get to experience the joy of learning from them. Here, Amol takes dance lessons from his daughter Arushi at their home in India's Maharashtra state. © UNICEF/UNI334402/ Bhardwaj
HOW TO HELP
There are many ways to make a difference
War, famine, poverty, natural disasters — threats to the world's children keep coming. But UNICEF won't stop working to keep children healthy and safe.
UNICEF works in over 190 countries and territories — more places than any other children's organization. UNICEF has the world's largest humanitarian warehouse and, when disaster strikes, can get supplies almost anywhere within 72 hours. Constantly innovating, always advocating for a better world for children, UNICEF works to ensure that every child can grow up healthy, educated, protected and respected.
Would you like to help give all children the opportunity to reach their full potential? There are many ways to get involved.
