Children Uniting Nations Celebrates ’11th Annual Day of the Child’

The Day of the Child (DOC) is designed to bring awareness and support to the needs of children who, by no fault of their own, are living in and out of home care. Children Uniting Nations DOC is the community’s way of letting foster children know that someone cares by providing mentors for the day. Ultimately, the DOC encourages mentoring and underscores the need for these children to develop meaningful connections with adults in their community. The long-term goal is to get members of the community to dedicate two days a month to be a permanent mentor for these children.

Some of this years performers, political officials and attendees include; Speaker of the Assembly Karen Bass, Congresswoman Diane Watson, Asst. Superintendent Al Cortez, Assembly member Cathleen Galgiani, California Israeli Counsel General Jacob Dayan, MC Lyte, Jabbawockeez, Mel B, Aaron Carter, (Dancing with the Stars) Frankie J R&B artist, Tierra Mari (R & B Artist), Louis Vito (Dancing with The Stars & Olympic Snow Boarder) Mariah Wilson (Dream Girls), Maxso, Austin Anderson (Disney) LA Laker Girls, LA Clipper Girls, Snoopy, USC Marching Band, Christine Devine, Anna Perez De Thele (Hanna Montana) Ethan Peck (Ten Things About You) Harry Shum (Glee) Hayley McFarland (Lie To Me) and many more!

This event takes several hundreds of high-risk children from foster homes, residential facilities and homeless shelters for a day of fun, games, rides and love with thousands of volunteer mentors. Foster youth spend the day enjoying rides(some of the rides came from Neverland!) games, live entertainment, food and fun with our communities’ most caring mentors. At the end of the day, the children receive care packages including books, educational materials and every day necessities, which are donated by generous organizations and companies. My Stuff Bags has graciously donated the bags to the children for this event. A special thank you to our generous sponsors: Famous Cupcakes and Hansons Junior Juice, Beverage. California Pizza Kitchen, Coke, Sacks Production, ItGirl PR, Israel Consulate, Zacky Farms, Wells Fargo Foundation, Fred Segal, Rocket Fizz, 99cent Store, Snuggie, Humanity, KDAY and Kitchen for Exploring Foods.

Founder Daphna Ziman comments on this year’s event, “Children Uniting Nation’s (CUN) Day of the Child is the biggest mentoring event in the country. It is such an important day for the thousands of voiceless foster and at risk youth that we serve. Day of the Child provides these children with a day filled with caring adults, rides, games, live entertainment and needed school supplies. This is also an amazing occasion to show our community that the dedication of a little time to become a mentor can save the lives of children that would otherwise be sentenced to a life drugs, failure and crime.”

Numerous celebrities and elected officials have donated their time as mentors and volunteers such as Pierce Brosnan, Sela Ward, Jennifer Love Hewitt, David Arquette, Jane Seymour, Tara Reid, N’Sync’s J.C. Chasez, Paul Rodriguez, Victoria Rowell, Jose Celano, California Governor Gray Davis and First Lady Sharon Davis, Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Commissioner Ken Podziba and Commissioner William Bell to name a few. Past performers include Aaron Carter, Colby O’Donis, Run DMC, Coolio, 3rd Storee, Hanson, Dionne Warwick, Stevie Wonder, Pointer Sisters, Nick Cannon and many local acts and national recording artists.