For the 26th time, UNICEF will hold a gala in the western city of Calgary to raise money for its “Water for Life” campaign. UNICEF says that it and its partners reached 45 million people with improved water supplies in 2017. This included 32 million people provided with safe water, nine million with improved sanitation and 28 million with hygiene promotion.

This year’s gala in Calgary will take place on November 3, 2018 and will include a four-course dinner, a speech by a former refugee from the civil war in Sudan and over 160 auction items.

Voluntary donations alone fund UNICEF

Organizers hope to raise $1.25 million at this even compared to $1.232 million last year. Over the years, this campaign is said to have raised more than $13 million.

UNICEF is supported exclusively by voluntary donations and is active in over 190 countries. It says it has saved more children’s lives than any other humanitarian organizations.

In India alone, the UN children’s agency says nearly 78 million people must make do with contaminated water sources or buy water at high cost. (Rafiq Maqbool/AP Photo/file)