Selena Gomez Named Youngest UNICEF Ambassador

By Kelly Turner on September 9th, 2009

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Wizards of Waverly Place star Selena Gomez hasn’t forgotten the little people.

Selena, 17, was honored last week with the title of youngest UNICEF Ambassador for her work with the organization.

Selena joined forces with UNICEF last year to protect children’s rights, and one year later, Selena is now a member of the team, advocating for children everywhere.

“We’re very pleased to have Selena join the UNICEF family, as a longtime supporter, she will continue to capture and engage an audience of millions of young people to help ensure the health, education, equality and protection of every child,” Caryl Stern, President and CEO of the U.S. Fund for UNICEF, said in a statement.

UNICEF (United Nations Children’s Fund) is an organization devoted to the welfare of children providing help with emergency relief and rehabilitation assistance.   The Disney star’s role will be to educate, advocate and fundraise with UNICEF to support the cause.  In her first official field mission to Ghana in early September, Selena observed the poor living conditions of thousands of young African children and how UNICEF is working to remedy these issues through programming and local initiatives.  You can see pictures of her trip on her official Twitter page.

“Every day 25,000 children die from preventable causes,” Selena said of her work with UNICEF.  “I stand with UNICEF in the belief that we can change that number from 25,000 to zero.”

Its so refreshing to finally see a young role model actually live up to the honor.  The talented singer-actress-activist is volunteering, doing good and giving back.  For information on how you or your children can get involved with UNICEF, visit www.unicef.org.

(Image courtesy of twitter.com/selenagomez)