Vending = Fending

As I exited a restaurant near Lincoln Center recently, I was surprised to see a series of oversized red vending machines lining the sidewalk. Always the marketer, I expected to find some innovative holiday brand activation. What I found was much, much cooler.

A partnership between UNICEF USA and Latter Day Saint charities, the Giving Machines’ items are priced from $2 to $320 and include food & clothing, life-saving medicines, access to clean water, and even livestock. The #LightTheWorld campaign asks people to make this a season of service—and to consider giving something to others at the very moment when they’re usually getting something for themselves. Instead of getting yourself a soda, get life-changing clean water for an entire community. In lieu of candy for your kid, buy polio vaccines for 100 kids.

Afghanistan (pictured below), Pakistan and Nigeria are the world’s last remaining countries where polio remains endemic. In 2018, machines in five cities raised $2.3 million allowing UNICEF to (among other things) purchase 370,000 polio vaccines—fueling optimism that polio will become the second human disease, after smallpox, to be eradicated. With this season’s machines in 10 cities (and as far as Taiwan), UNICEF and The Latter Day Church are hoping to double the dollars raised… and their efforts to keep children active, educated and healthy.

HOW CAN YOU GIVE?

While the machines came down at season’s end (January 1), you can continue to donate at LightTheWorld.org or find other service suggestions at JustServe.org.

Jason McKeeJanuary 3, 2020Comment