Greta Thunberg Donates To Unicef $100,000 Prize To Assist Children And Young People In Fighting Coronavirus

Climate activist Greta Thunberg has showed amazing empathy and consideration by donating $100,000 she received as prize money to UNICEF to protect children and young people during the coronavirus pandemic.

The prize was awarded to Thunberg by Danish non-profit organisation ‘Human Act’, who work to alleviate extreme poverty, in recognition of her work regarding climate change. The organisation then doubled the donation made by Greta by offering another $100,000 of its money to UNICEF.

Thunberg said in a statement regarding the prize and the donation:
“Like the climate crisis, the coronavirus pandemic is a child rights crisis … It will affect all children, now and in the long term, but vulnerable groups will be impacted the most. I’m asking everyone to step up and join me in support of UNICEF’s vital work to save children’s lives, to protect health, and continue education.”

UNICEF who work tirelessly for the protection and advancement of children throughout the world, are currently distributing hygiene supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) to those most in need. The organisation seeks to raise $2 billion to help fight coronavirus – including $350 million for scaling up logistics to help distribute much needed supplies. This includes supplying school meals to children who are used to being fed at school but now may be locked down in their homes without an income. They are also involved in calling for a global ceasefire of all conflicts and organising methods to allow children to continue their education.

UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore said:
“The coronavirus pandemic is the greatest struggle the world has seen in generations … Children and young people are among the most severely impacted by the knock-on effects of COVID-19, so it is only natural that they would want to do something about it.”

Although Greta Thunberg’s usual area of focus is upon climate change, these issues are very much linked and not only because the virus and the lockdown appear to also harm the most vulnerable to the greatest degree. The biggest challenge of our lifetime has occurred, and the realisation that apocalyptic events really do take place outside of movie theatres has perhaps woken people up to the fact that although climate change may have been understood in theory, the horror of a terrible event on a huge magnitude taking place, was something that many ignored. Perhaps now that we realise bad things really can happen, it will push people towards acting to work with, as oppose to against, planet earth.

In a recent video, Thunberg remarked on the changing world we are now facing:
“Whether we like it or not, the world has changed … It looks completely different now from how it did a few months ago. It may never look the same again. We have to choose a new way forward.”

We couldn’t agree more.

via Thinking Humanity https://ift.tt/2XJzvmg