“I know this decision is one I'll never regret.”

The world is chaos and we have no idea what's going to happen but one thing I'm absolutely certain about is that children will need help and that UNICEF will be there for them.  

Every day I've been a UNICEF volunteer, staff member and donor it's been clear to me - there's never been a bad day to donate to UNICEF. There's never been a day when a child doesn't need UNICEF.  

I still have so much ahead of me but giving to UNICEF will always be a non-negotiable in my life. Leaving a gift to UNICEF in my Will feels very natural to me. There's no better legacy you could leave on this planet than helping the next generation survive crisis and disaster and grow up safe and healthy.  

© UNICEF/UN0792497/Ergen

I learnt about UNICEF as a child myself. I grew up understanding that the life I had in Australia where I could always trust I'd be protected from violence and supported to learn, play and shape a life for myself was the childhood every child deserves. Every child, everywhere, has the same rights. I realised that I wasn't "lucky" to have a good childhood - it was an injustice that other children were being denied that just because of the situation they were born into. 

I donated my first paycheck to UNICEF because I wanted to pass on the gift of education that had allowed me to begin my career. Since then, having worked for UNICEF in countries across the world I've become surer every day that my donations help change the world. UNICEF's local partnership model means that we don't come and go - we're supporting people to create change in their own community and then replicating that grassroots change at an unbelievable global scale. UNICEF can turn a successful project in one community into a national policy that impacts millions of children. UNICEF can respond immediately when a natural disaster strikes or conflict breaks out because they have supplies and staff ready to go.  

As a young person I hadn't spent a lot of time thinking about my legacy before I decided to leave a gift to UNICEF in my Will, but I know this decision is one I'll never regret.