August 2020 Monthly Awareness Initiatives

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]August ignites awareness for youth, immunizations, humanitarians and back to school initiatives. The dog days of summer send in the clowns for International Clown Week and celebrate young people and their contributions to the world on International Youth Day. Here’s what you need to know for August.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”7764″ img_size=”large” alignment=”center”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]NATIONAL IMMUNIZATION MONTH – Every August, the National Public Health Information Coalition sponsors National Immunization Awareness Month (NIAM) to celebrate the benefits of vaccines and to highlight the importance of vaccination for people of all ages. The designated month provides a reminder to all to make sure vaccinations are up to date. It is the hope for 2020 that the world can add a vaccine for the coronavirus to the immunization list. Immunizations are not just for kids. It is important that babies and young children, pre-teens/teens, pregnant women and adults ensure they are protected from serious diseases throughout their lives.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”7652″ img_size=”large” alignment=”center”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]INTERNATIONAL CLOWN WEEK – The first week of August each year celebrates clowns and their contributions to making us laugh and smile, even in the darkest of times. The week was created in 1971 to give recognition to those funny clowns that make us laugh and smile. There are well over 20,000 clowns around the world that share one common goal — to make us happy. In a pre-pandemic year, August 1st through August 8th an array of clowns could be seen roaming around.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”4480″ img_size=”large” alignment=”center”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]INTERNATIONAL YOUTH DAY  – August 12th is deemed International Youth Day. We celebrate young people’s contributions to conflict prevention and transformation as well as inclusion, social justice, and sustainable peace each year. The theme of International Youth Day 2020 is “Youth Engagement for Global Action”– highlighting the ways in which the engagement of young people at the local, national and global levels is enriching national and multilateral institutions and processes. The theme also focuses on on how their representation and engagement in formal institutional politics can be significantly enhanced.

Our young people are key constituents in ensuring the success of both, peacekeeping and peace-building efforts. In recognizing that our youth can and should play an important role in deterring and resolving conflicts. As agents of change, young people’s inclusion in the peace and security agenda and in society more broadly, is key to building and sustaining peace.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”4652″ img_size=”large” alignment=”center”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]WORLD HUMANITARIAN DAY (WHD) –  is held every year on August 19th to pay tribute to aid workers who risk their lives in humanitarian service, and to rally support for people affected by crises around the world. Humanitarian workers who deliver necessary aid, and medical workers who treat the wounded and sick are oftentimes directly targeted, treated as threats, and prevented from bringing relief and care to those in desperate need. The global community will raise their voices on August 19th to advocate for those most vulnerable in war zones, and demand that world leaders do everything in their power to protect civilians in conflict.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]BACK TO SCHOOL MONTH – August triggers the home stretch for summer with thoughts of readying for the start of the school year. Regardless of whether the return to school is online-only or in-classroom, retail promotions kick into full gear for shoppers seeking school supplies and clothing.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”7415″ img_size=”medium” alignment=”center”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]We will be participating in August 2020 initiatives and celebratory weeks mostly virtual this year as we enter the fifth month of living with social distancing, quarantine, wearing a mask and COVID-19 resurgence reality. This month’s campaigns and their messages remain as equally important as pre-virus years. Hope is on the horizon with the promise of several vaccines in the latter stages of testing for the coronavirus. There is a great deal of offerings in August guaranteed to keep you Socially Sparked®! — #sociallysparked Tweet us @sosparkednews & @asparks01[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]