EDISON — As third-graders at the township’s Wardlaw-Hartridge School learned the difference between wants and needs during recent class discussions, they decided that helping needy children can be even sweeter than candy.
The students in Ellen Colandrea’s class took part in Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF, a program that has served as a “Kids Helping Kids” campaign for more than 60 years.
The children recently learned about the realities that countless children in the developing world must endure every day as they struggle to survive in the face of disease, disasters and hardships such as poor nutrition, according to school officials. The class was informed that 25 cents can provide 10 children with clean water to drink for a day, and that $50 can vaccinate 85 children against polio for life.
After the presentation, the students volunteered to ask for UNICEF donations instead of candy as they were trick-ortreating for Halloween.
The $500 in donations collected this year broke the records from Colandrea’s previous classes.