Murray State’s chapter of UNICEF, also known as the United Nations Children’s Fund,  along with nine other campus organizations, hosted its second Halloween Carnival philanthropy event to raise funds for developing nations.

UNICEF is an organization focused on providing humanitarian and developmental aid to disadvantaged children and adolescents in over 190 countries.

President William Groves said this event was extremely important to their organization.

“The UNICEF Halloween Carnival is important for us because, on top of furthering our donation goal for UNICEF, we get to meet and work with a lot of the other student organizations on campus and share our event with the rest of the city of Murray as well,” Groves said.

The nine organizations that participated in the carnival were Amnesty International, Murray State Esports, Secular Student Alliance, Euclidean Mathematics Club, Active Minds, College Democrats, the National Society of Leadership and Success, the Public Relations Student Society of America and Racer Report.

“We chose to host this event because I wanted to bring back the nostalgia of an elementary school fall festival,” Groves said. “This is our organization’s spin on Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF.”

Groves, as the fundraising chairperson, originally came up with the idea for the carnival in 2021.

Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF is the Halloween-themed fundraising event that involves children asking for change donations instead of candy while trick-or-treating.

Vice President of UNICEF’s Fundraising and Administration Case Thomason said UNICEF enjoys hosting the carnival, and they hope to make it an annual event.

“It is an excellent way for UNICEF to reach out to everyone in a fun manner that we’ve enjoyed every moment of doing and hope to carry out on for years to come,” Thomason said.

Some of the activities that were held at the carnival include pumpkin painting, face painting, a balloon-popping dart throwing game, pumpkin bowling, a cupcake walk, bean bag toss, dino throw and multiple photo ops, along with festive fall treats like hot cider and candy.

“I’m most excited about our pumpkin painting that UNICEF will personally be doing,” Thomason said. “I can’t wait to see some of the creativity of others and have everyone laugh at the mess that will be my painted pumpkin.”

All funds and donations raised by the carnival will go towards the end-of-the-year donation made toward UNICEF USA. Last year, the carnival raised over $300 for UNICEF’s efforts in Ukraine.

Groves said the donations are important in assisting developing nations in areas of vaccination, world hunger and clean and accessible drinking water.

Anyone interested in learning more about the organization or donating can visit @murrayunicef on Instagram.