Mary Emma Allison

Who was Mary Emma Allison?

Mary Emma Allison was an American school librarian who co-created Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF in 1950. Her three children were the initial participants in the fund raising effort, which by the time of her death had brought in $160 million to be used for the benefit of needy children around the world.

Born Mary Emma Woodruff in 1917, she earned her undergraduate degree at Wheaton College. After working as a school teacher, she majored in library science for her master's degree and was employed as a librarian in a Chicago school.

While living with her family in Philadelphia, she and her husband Clyde Allison, a Presbyterian minister, collected clothing and items for the Church World Service to be distributed in Europe as humanitarian aid for refugees in the aftermath of World War II.

As that effort was winding down, she attended a children's costume parade in late 1949 and followed the children and a cow into Wanamaker's in Center City Philadelphia, where she saw a booth raising funds for UNICEF.

Together with her husband, Allison conceived of a program in which children would collect funds for UNICEF as part of their Halloween trick-or-treating.