A meaningful reminder to help needy children.

A child's expression of gratitude in post-war ravaged Europe launched a multi-million-dollar Programme that has become worldwide expression of hoep for children.

In 1949, seven-year-old Jitka Samkova sent a hand-painted thank-you note to the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) for sending food, clothing and medicines to her small village in Czechoslovakia. The artwork--depicting children dancing joyously around a maypole--provided the image for the first UNICEF greeting card.

The christmas season of 1994 will mark the 45th anniversary of the UNICEF Greeting Card Operation (GCO), which was the first of its kind to print and sell cards for charitable purposes. Over the years, some 3 billion cards have been sold in 44 countries for a total net profit of some $500 million-enough money to immunize more than 33 million children against polio, measles, tuberculosis, diphtheria, whooping cough and tetanus. This year, the Fund expects to sell some 170 million cards.

Today, more than 2,600 artists--representing more than 140 countries, including such world-renowned masters as Picasso, Chagall, Miro and Matisse--have generously donated rights to reproduce their works.

The artwork for UNICEF cards is chosen each year from some 6,000 designs assembled by UNICEF staff in Geneva and New York. National committees representing UNICEF in their respective countries, in consultation with art experts, choose about 100 works for their national distribution.

The most inspiring, energizing and motivating aspect of UNICEF's GCO, says its director Reinhard Yoav Freiberg, is that it encourages public support for the goals of the 1990 World Summit for Children--the survival, protection and development of children all over the world.

Originally, UNICEF card themes focused on children and the spirit of internationalism. Religious themes were avoided in the early years. Since the 1960s, however, religious diversity has become an important component. The mother-and-child theme and the dove of peace--with the word "peace" printed in the official languages of the UN--are constant best sellers.

In the United States, the cards are traditionally marketed by hundreds of UNICEF volunteers and civic and religious organizations. They are also sold by mail-order, at retail outlets and chain stores, and to corporations that have them imprinted with company names or customized holiday greetings.

The sale of one card, UNICEF points out, can provide a sterile dressing for a child's wound; 4 cards can immunize 18 children; 10 cards are equivalent to 200 antibiotic capsules: 35 cards, enough vitamin A to protect 800 toddlers against blindness; and 50 cards, a baby-scale for a health centre.

The 1994 UNICEF catalogue offers many new gift items, including puzzles, games, atlases, cookbooks, earrings, a brooch commemorating the International Year of the Family (1994), and a handcrafted dolls-of-the-world wreath from Guatemala.

GCO Director Freiberg concludes: "Our operation has become one of the most successful expressions of hope for children through the UN family. It has shown people that you, as an individual, can participate in the work of the UN through UNICEF We have never considered the Greeting Card Operation as being only UNICEF We've always considered it as an advocacy vehicle to allow people to become part, and to get personally involved in the work, of the UN."