A 75-year-old Halloween tradition that saves children’s lives | Opinion
It was Halloween in 1974, and the White House had a special visitor: Dracula. This was not a diplomatic meeting but rather a celebration of the trick-or-treat campaign of the United Nations Children’s Fund, also known as UNICEF, to help poor children overseas.
As reported in The New York Times, First Lady “Betty Ford served punch and cookies to a witch, a ghost, Dracula and three other scary‐looking characters raising money for the United Nations Children’s Fund.” Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF has been a big part of our Halloween customs since it came about in the aftermath of World War II. The war’s devastation left children in Europe and Asia suffering amid shortages of food and other basic supplies. The war-torn nations were struggling to rebuild. The needs of children were so great that UNICEF was created in 1946 to help them.
At this same time, Mary Emma Allison and Clyde Allison of Philadelphia had an idea to get American kids to collect supplies during Halloween night for starving children overseas instead of collecting candy for themselves.. It was a small collection at first, but the smallest idea quickly grew. The UNICEF Trick-or-Treat campaign was born in 1950.
Every Halloween since has seen donations collected for UNICEF to support their life-saving work for children around the globe. Former First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt became one of the biggest supporters of Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF.
Children carrying the UNICEF collection boxes on Halloween night became a regular occurrence. Even turning on the television, you could see Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF featured in episodes of famous shows like “Lassie” and “Bewitched.”
In the last 75 years, nearly $200 million has been collected through Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF. Halloween has become a life-saving event for kids worldwide.
Today, we are seeing the most number of humanitarian emergencies since that post WWII era, when UNICEF was first created. With famines in Gaza and Sudan — plus many other countries on the brink of famine — millions of children need our help. Starving children desperately need food to prevent malnutrition that can stunt them for a lifetime.
Many children will die from malnutrition if helps does not come in time. Children worldwide need food, clean water and medicine to prevent hunger and disease. Sadly, humanitarian aid funding has seen big cuts by the Trump administration this year, which has harmed these efforts. That’s why Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF is needed more than ever this year.
Let’s hope this year’s UNICEF Trick-or-Treat campaign sets records and sends a message to impoverished children worldwide that help is on the way from kids here during Halloween.
William Lambers is an author who partnered with the UN World Food Program on the book Ending World Hunger. His writings have been published by the Washington Post, Newsweek, History News Network and many other news outlets.
This story was originally published October 31, 2025 at 5:00 AM.