Yellowknife (Oct 22/04) - The popular Unicef Halloween box campaign is spreading across the North as more schools request to join in.

Just two years ago, only two schools actively participated. Last year, a presenter from Calgary visited Yellowknife for the first time. The effort resulted in five new schools signing on.

This year, seven schools will offer the orange and black United Nations Children's Fund (Unicef) boxes to their students, contributing to a surge in popularity for the region, said Holly Davidson, the regional director of Unicef for Alberta, which looks after the NWT and Nunavut.

Sixty schools across the NWT and Nunavut took part last year, contributing to the $300,000 raised in the region.

"The majority of the schools embrace Unicef. They see the value of children helping children," said Davidson.

In Yellowknife, some of the schools who opt out cite a focus on community-based fundraising as the reason.

At Range Lake North school, principal Sandra Bowden proves how easy it is to participate.

She doesn't plan on running out of boxes like they did last year. She ordered 200 for the K-8 school.

"We had more interest than we had boxes (last year)," she said.

While she doesn't push the campaign on kids, she does offer it to teachers to bring into the classroom.

Mr. Hanuschuk's Grade 4 classroom is showing a shining example this year, as the whole class is vowing to tie on a Halloween box.

"I like going to houses and collecting money. It keeps me busy. It makes kids feel better," said Annie Weishaupt, age nine.

She's collecting for the first time this year.

Brandon Walz plans on going door-to-door asking for a few coins to go along with the requisite candy collecting.

"I wanted to give money to the poor kids," said the nine-year-old.

Residents should remember to keep a bowl of change near the door this year and watch out for the orange and black Unicef boxes.

They'll be helping Yellowknife school kids add to the campaign's $4 million target across Canada this year.