This holiday season, UNICEF and FEED allows shoppers to give gifts to those on and off their Christmas lists.
UNICEF is one organization that is allowing people to purchase exciting holiday gifts while working to make sure that no child dies of a preventable cause.
Lauren Bush, co-founder of FEED, whose mission is to create products to feed the world, has introduced new designs this holiday season to the FEED Guatemala Bag collection.
After witnessing first-hand the injustices of hunger, Bush partnered with UNICEF to launch the FEED Guatemala Bag to defeat child malnutrition and deaths from around the world.
"World hunger – it's huge, it's massive. What can I do? If you want to shop, buy our bag," Bush said.
The FEED Guatemala bags are handcrafted by artisans in Guatemala and are sold exclusively in Lord & Taylor. Purchasing one FEED Guatemala Bag helps UNICEF provide micro-nutrient powder for three children in Guatemala for a whole year.
"Kids are getting food, (but) even if they're full, they're not getting the nutrients," Bush said.
"(Guatemala) was actually the first country I visited with a UN organization. They're really our neighbors. They have the highest rate of malnutrition in Latin America," Bush said. "One kid I met was 7-years-old and truly looked like he was 3 or 4 [years old] and he died a few days later. This is unnecessary and that's what UNICEF is really about…taking kids that are the future and finding where they live and helping in every way they can."
UNICEF offers a variety of other ways to give and give back as well.
UNICEF Inspired Gifts is a program that allows shoppers to purchase real, lifesaving products to be shipped to over 150 countries where UNICEF works.
Motorbike, bicycles, vaccines, school supplies, temporary schools, water systems, emergency units and nutritional supplements can all be purchased online and sent to children who need it.
Shoppers also have options to purchase vaccines, which can benefit hundreds of lives. For example, $20 of the Tetanus Toxoid Vaccine can provide 412 doses for children. Since its initiation three years ago, UNICEF Inspired Gifts has raised $3.4 million.
"Any items that give an immediate boost tend to be our most popular items, including Plumpy Nut, mosquito nets, vaccines and Oral Rehydration Salts," Karla Coello, from the U.S. Fund for UNICEF said.
The gift ideas do not end there. UNICEF Gifts is offering its traditional holiday card and gift collection that include hand-beaded Indian ornaments, henna candles, baroque pearls and a variety of toys. A portion of the sales of a UNICEF Gift goes directly towards improving and saving lives of children worldwide.
Those looking for a more glamorous gift can purchase the "Gucci for UNICEF" Sukey Bag. Gucci will donate 25 percent of proceeds from all Sukey Bags to UNICEF funding for orphans and children in Africa.
Additionally, from now until Dec. 24, IKEA will donate 1 euro or $1.39 to UNICEF and Save the Children, a global education project, for each soft toy purchased at the store.
IKEA has raised over $31 million after seven executive years of the campaign, saving an estimated eight million children in 40 countries worldwide.
For more information on FEED bags and how to make positive global changes, check out Lord & Taylor's or UNICEF's websites.
Natalie Negrotti can be reached at natalie.negrotti@student.shu.edu.
Former Editor-in-Chief Meghan St. John contributed to this story.
