Red Nose Day is a fundraising campaign that makes it fun to come together to raise money and awareness for children who need our help most, in America and around the world. UnidosUS knows this firsthand, because thanks to the support of Comic Relief USA, the organization behind Red Nose Day, we are changing the lives of Latino children living in rural areas in the United States, while bringing up smiles to the families and communities we serve(watch this video to see what we are talking about). So thank YOU for joining this year’s FUN-raising for Red Nose Day 2019 and helping raise almost $40 million to help our children be safe, healthy, and educated.
This year’s Red Nose Day campaign and UnidosUS sought to increase awareness and get more people involved, especially through social media (check out the hashtags #NosesOn, and #UnidosNoseHeroes to see some amazing pictures).
This exceptional occasion culminated with an action-packed night of programming on NBC, that included the fifth annual Red Nose Day Special followed by a special Red Nose Day edition of “Hollywood Game Night.”
Red Nose Day makes it fun to come together to raise money and awareness for children who need our help most, in the United States and around the world. The mission: to end child poverty. The way: one nose at a time! And UnidosUS Affiliate Redlands Christian Migrant Association knows it well.
By Juana Brown, Director of Charter Schools at Redlands Christian Migrant Association (RCMA)
Ms. Esquijarosa says Samuel Perez, a student in her bilingual Kindergarten class at Immokalee Community School, is very proud of his crowns. He seems very knowledgeable about the dentist and the two new “coronas” he now has on his back molars. When asked about his visit to the dentist, he is quick to share that it took several visits to get everything he needed completed.
Maria, Samuel’s mother, recalled how she had waited to speak to Ms. Meza, Immokalee Community School (ICS)’s social worker, at the conclusion of a parent workshop. Hearing about the importance of good dental care for students and about RCMA’s partnership with UnidosUS’s Healthy and Ready for the Future (HRF) program and Red Nose Day, she had wondered if the school would be willing to help Samuel.
What she had hoped to hear
“He’s been in pain for six months, but since he is not yet a student at the school, I did not know if we could get help”. She was reassured by Ms. Meza, who had originally referred Samuel for the initial check-up. Mrs. Perez was relieved to hear she could get the much-needed help for Samuel, since the family had been struggling financially and money was especially tight.
Despite their limited means, they had not qualified for Medicaid in the last two years. Beyond basic checks-ups, health and dental care for the children had been an unaffordable luxury, so “we can help” was exactly what she had hoped to hear.
This is what we’ve been waiting for for a whole year, and it’s finally here! This Thursday, May 23, is Red Nose Day, and what a better way to celebrate it than by tuning into NBC’s Red Nose Day special at 8 p.m. Don’t miss the biggest Red Nose Day yet!
Ending child poverty can be done one nose at a time thanks to Red Nose Day and Comic Relief USA. You can too join the #RedNoseDay celebration and support the cause by watching the NBC’s Red Nose Day special live tomorrow night at 8 p.m.
Last spring, a bright-eyed toddler girl and her mother attending a health fair approached a table filled with red noses. It was Su Clinica Familiar’s table, staffed by Abigail ‘Abi’ Mares, a dental outreach worker from this community health center and UnidosUS Affiliate in Harlingen, Texas. It was this encounter that sparked the beginning of establishing a medical and dental home—and a consistent source of health care—for Genesis and her mother Rosa Diaz. Their above and beyond participation in this program, and their overall strong commitment to UnidosUS’s work, earned them the 2019 Texas Affiliate of the Year award.
Supported by Red Nose Day since 2016, HRF provides oral and behavioral health care services for Latino children, especially from migrant and seasonal farmworker families, across rural America.
Rosa told Abi that she was a single mother struggling to make ends meet. She did not make enough money to afford private insurance and the convenience store where she worked did not offer health coverage. Her car wasn’t always reliable and, although Genesis was covered by Medicaid, it was hard to take time off from work to make an appointment to renew her coverage. Scheduling Genesis’s doctor visits on her days off, which often came with little notice by her employer, was a challenge. Abi recognized that Rosa was experiencing what many young single moms face: not having the time and resources to get everything they need done.
It is that time of the year again, and we need your help to get our most vulnerable children out of poverty. The Red Nose Day campaign is in full swing, and here at UnidosUS we are ready to raise awareness for children who need our help the most. Join our #UnidosNoseHeroes effort this 2019, making this great cause tremendously fun!
Did you know that in the United States almost 13 million children—nearly one in five—live in families with incomes below the federal poverty threshold? That’s why Red Nose Day started in the United States four years ago, to end child poverty, one nose at a time.
In these four years, they’ve raised nearly $150 million, and part of those funds have helped support UnidosUS’s Healthy and Ready for the Future initiative, which provides oral and behavioral health care services for Latino children, especially those from migrant and seasonal farmworker families, across rural America.
UnidosUS launched this year’s campaign with our President and CEO Janet Murguía and a group of our supporters wearing their Everyday Heroes Red Noses to start creating awareness and continue supporting Healthy and Ready for the Future.
Preventing health issues, school absenteeism, and more
Creating good oral care habits is crucial for the healthy development of a child: cavities can impact a child’s health, development, and learning, which can result in higher school absenteeism and lower self-esteem. This is the issue Healthy and Ready for the Future is tackling, ensuring that children that live in poverty have access to oral health care, since they have higher rates of tooth decay, putting those of migrant and seasonal farmworkers (of which 76% are Latino)—who live below the federal poverty line at twice the national rate (30% versus 15%)—at greater risk.
Our Affiliates participated in a training this past February, where they shared best practices and strengthened connections. UnidosUS incorporated a social and emotional well-being component into the initiative this year. Therefore, this training introduced participants to a trauma-informed framework and practices for early childhood programs. This month, they are getting together again to continue this peer-learning and also learn about ways to amplify the Red Nose Day campaign.
If you haven’t seen it yet, don’t miss our inspiring video highlighting the work of our Affiliates through this campaign:
How you can help
Very easy: get your noses on! Purchase your Red Nose at Walgreens during the five-week campaign that started on April 22, take a picture with it, and post it on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram tagging @WeAreUnidosUS and @RedNoseDayUSA, and using the hashtags #UnidosNoseHeroes and #RedNoseDay.
When you do this you will be entered into a raffle and we will pick a winner at random on Red Nose Day (May 23) to win one of our exclusive swag bags with: a UnidosUS pen, a beanie or a hat, a mug, a Moleskine notepad, and a USB drive.
What’s special about this year is that Red Nose Day has created five different noses! And you will get them all in the swag bag if you win the raffle. Each is a different kind of hero: Red, Rusty, Scarlet, Rojo, and Ruby. Collect all of them, wear them on your fingers, and post a fun picture to continue creating awareness.
And don’t forget to tag us to enter the raffle! Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram at @WeAreUnidosUS, and use the hashtags #UnidosNoseHeroes, #RedNoseDay, #NosesOn, and #HeroHighFive.
