STATE COLLEGE — The Central Pennsylvania United Nations Association chapter #151 is hosting its United Nations Day Celebration Dinner on Sunday, Oct. 27, after a several-year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“It’s a unique event in this area,” Robert Lumley-Sapanski, a UNA-CPA board member remarked. “We usually have 30 to 50 people representing different countries, most of them dressed in traditional garb from their homelands.”
The United Nations was established on Oct. 24, 1945, and every year since during October, UNA-USA chapters from across the country celebrate by hosting events revolving around a global issue.
U.N. Day 2024 celebrates the 79th anniversary of the U.N. with the theme “U.N. For US.” The theme’s play on words is to highlight the importance of the U.N. for the United States and to emphasize how that role plays out in the daily lives and communities of Americans.
“The United Nations is a very important agency within the world. Formed in 1945, it does an amazing amount of work in many different dimensions,” Frank Ahren, the UNA-CPA president, emphasized. “You have to appreciate the United Nations for what it does to know why we are trying to support its mission and values. One of the great things about the United Nations is the sustainability goals and their guidelines that almost every nation has adopted in some way to try to better their climate, better their children’s health and to better everything.”
The U.N. Day Celebration Dinner will also serve as an opportunity for the community to learn more about UNA, the U.N.’s Sustainability Development Goals, what the U.N. is currently accomplishing and welcome and meet people from nations around the world in their native dress and flags.
“What the United Nations does is very important. The UNA was formed right after the United Nations began, and the main person driving that was Eleanor Roosevelt,” Lumley-Sapanski explained. “She saw the importance of having this association that was across the country. … She was instrumental in getting us going, so we try to align our dinner every year.”
The Celebration Dinner on Sunday, Oct. 27, will take place at the Ramada Inn in State College with a reception, a welcoming of international guests to the community, dinner, entertainment provided by Indian dancers and a featured presentation about the global fashion industry’s waste. The Centre County Board of Commissioners will also attend the celebration to present a proclamation, declaring United Nations Day in Centre County.
Penn State’s Aydın Alptekinoğlu, a professor of operations and supply chain management and Robert G. Schwartz University Endowed Fellow in Business Administration at Penn State’s Smeal College of Business, will be the keynote speaker at the celebration with his presentation “Choking the Planet: The Dangers of the Global Fashion Supply Chain.”
Alptekinoğlu’s presentation delves into the world of “fast fashion” and how it results in overproduction, wage theft and giant contributions to landfills worldwide. Alptekinoğlu raises the question: Could mass customization of clothing and accessories mitigate the current model of fast fashion for a more sustainable future?
“We want people to appreciate the United Nations for what it does and what its mission is. We want people to appreciate the topic related to fashion and sustainability,” Ahren highlighted. “We want people to appreciate our chapter, sign up and we want people to learn.”
According to the UNA, the fashion industry is the second largest consumer of water, making it responsible for about two to 8% of global carbon emissions. This leads to consequences overall for the environment, the consumer, the social impact and the cost.
The UNA also noted that the global fashion industry wastes up to 100 billion clothing items a year and as much as 92 million tons of clothing ends up in a landfill. Around the world, only 20% of textiles are gathered for reuse or recycling and almost 60% of all clothing material is made from plastic.
“In today’s rapidly changing world, the U.N.’s mission is more crucial than ever. From addressing climate change and promoting sustainable development to ensuring human rights and providing humanitarian aid, the U.N.’s work is indispensable,” a statement from the UNA noted, “The challenges we face are global, and so must be our solutions.”
The U.N. established the Alliance for Sustainable Fashion in 2019 as a way to promote policies and projects that help the world fashion industry align with the U.N.’s Sustainable Development Goals.
While the issue is primarily a cause of the fashion industry, Alptekinoğlu’s presentation will also discuss ways the individual consumer can have an impact such as by opting for sustainable fashion, donating secondhand clothing, choosing eco-friendly options and more.
UNA-USA is an organization with 200,000 members and more than 200 chapters nationwide that is dedicated to supporting the United Nations. UNA-USA is a non-partisan, nonprofit organization, aiming to foster understanding and support for the ideals and work of the United Nations among American residents.
UNA-CPA was formed in 1992 and extends its reach beyond Centre County to encompass all of central Pennsylvania, engaging in educational and advocacy initiatives.
The organization has done other educational programs and events, including on Syrian refugee camps in Jordan, support for Model U.N. programs in schools, raising money for relief efforts and more. Currently, the UNA-CPA is raising money for the Ghana Medical Relief Project.
The U.N. Day Celebration Dinner is sponsored by the UNA-CPA, State College Citizens Climate Lobby, State College Global Connections and the Campus and Community in Unity. The cost to register for the celebration dinner is $40 per person and $30 per student. Registration for the event closes on Monday, Oct. 21 and can be found online at unacentralpa.org/events/un-day-2024-a-celebration. Scholarships are available and guests can also make it possible for an international student to join the celebration with an additional $30.
To learn more about UNA-CPA, upcoming events and projects or how to become a member, visit unacentralpa.org or email info@centralpa.org.
