Superstar Shakira and FC Barcelona player Gerard Piqué are inviting their global fans to contribute to UNICEF's "World Baby Shower" for their soon-to-arrive second son.
Donations, which will benefit UNICEF's international programs for children, can be made at worldbabyshower.org. Fans can purchase "inspired gifts" in the celebrity couple's name that include polio vaccines, blankets, water for entire families in emergency situations and therapeutic meals for children with malnutrition. Those expecting can also create their own UNICEF baby shower registry through the site to similarly benefit children in need. And anyone in the United States can also make a gift of $14.50 to receive a "limited edition" thank you card with an"exclusive" photo of Shakira and Piqué.
Shakira, a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador, and her soccer star mate first organized a UNICEF World Baby Shower before the birth of their first son Milan in 2013. Not surprisingly, it was a big success for the organization.
"Thanks to you, over 80,000 children will be protected from polio, almost 200,000 oral rehydration salts sachets will be distributed in times of need, the 3.8 tons of therapeutic food collected will save many children from severe acute malnutrition, among other life-saving tools that were purchased to protect babies and children," Shakira told fans at the end of that campaign.
The Colombian artist, a social media phenomenon who charmed audiences during her turn as a judge on The Voice, also heads her own foundation. The organization, Pies Descalzos, has built schools in Colombia and otherwise supports the education of children in need.
"Motherhood is everything to me," Shakira, who turns 38 in February, recently told a reporter for Spain's newspaper El Pais. She is set to give birth to her second son at the end of January at a private hospital in Barcelona, where the couple resides.
Shakira has been recording a new album expected to be released later this year, to be followed by a world tour.
[billboard]
