Donating doesn’t always mean you have to spend money. Who thought by using your phone you could be doing something good?

The United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) wants to improve conditions for children in more than 190 countries. This includes immunizations, clean water, sanitation, nutrition, education, emergency relief, and much more. The organization is reaching out, with the help of technology, to spread the word and get more donations.

Their mission is to donate a day of water to a child in need. According to UNICEF, 1,400 children a day die from drinking unsafe water. With UNICEF’s new way to drive up awareness all you have to do is take out your smart phone or iPod touch and go to uniceftapproject.org. After you hit the start button, all you do is let your phone sit for at least ten minutes or as long as you wish.

For every ten minutes that you go without using your phone, you donate a day of water to a child in need. Imagine how much water each person in our school could donate!

Some of our fellow students have taken part in this endowment already. “I just did ten minutes and it was so easy to do,” sophomore Jordan Muñoz said. “God has truly blessed those people to let us donate to them in such an easy way.”

For many people, ten minutes without your phone feels like a death sentence. Think about it this way. Ten minutes of your “death sentence” is actually saving another child’s life.

“We all here are so fortunate to have everything that we do like electronics,” senior Brittany Finkbeiner said. “It’s great to see that we can put our electronics to good use to help out other people.”

Health and physical education teacher Mr. Wayne Langsdorf uses his tablet at home to donate to multiple charities.

“I do not go for specific charities, but I choose the ones that are true non profits that donate the most money to the charity,” Mr. Langsdorf said. “I like the ones that will get more involved in the charity.”

With the blessing of Principal Christine Siegfried, plans are in motion to allow Southern Lehigh High School students, faculty and staff to contribute and make a difference in the world. On Friday March 28, students wishing to participate throughout the day may do so if the teacher allows.