With Christmas approaching, one of the places you'll likely find yourself is a card shop. As always, a number of cards will bear the familiar imprint of UNICEF, the international children's rights organization.

This is a special year for UNICEF, marking the 60th anniversary of its first holiday greeting card. The artwork for that card was done by 8-year-old Jitka Samková, whose village in Czechoslovakia was part of UNICEF's initial rescue operation in the region after World War II. Her simple gesture of appreciation launched a tradition of selling greeting cards to support programs that are now active in 191 countries worldwide.

The local UNICEF office will celebrate the occasion with a commemorative ceremony Dec. 11. An enlarged version of the card will then be on display through Christmas, with visitors encouraged to sign it as part of an international petition for children's rights. "Our motto is, 'for every child, health, education, quality and protection,' " says Pavla Gomba, executive director of UNICEF Czech Republic.

Gomba marvels at the organization's growth over the past six decades. "Our grandmothers and grandfathers still remember receiving aid after the war," she says. "And now we are able to fund projects around the world."

UNICEF (originally the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund) was established by the UN in 1946 to provide postwar relief services for children in Europe. Though it remains affiliated with the UN, UNICEF now operates as an independent agency that must support itself.

The origin of the first card was the result of a chain of lucky events. After UNICEF provided assistance to her village near České Budějovice, young Samková created a thank-you card with a colorful image of children dancing around a maypole. Her teacher liked it so much that she sent it to UNICEF's New York City office, where it was well-received and turned into a greeting card, 500 of which were sold that first year.

Since then, UNICEF has sold a total of 4 billion cards, raising about $50 million (1.1 billion Kč) a year. Samková's legacy may soon be facing insurmountable difficulties, though, as the growing preference for Internet communication is cutting into card sales. "In 10 years, I think it may become impossible for us to continue [selling cards]," Gomba says. UNICEF has branched out into stationery, toys and other gifts, the most popular of which is the "Adopt a Doll" program, which allows anyone interested to make a doll, which is then sold to raise the money to immunize a child for life.

"It's a very simple idea, but a very good one," Gomba says. "Each doll has a birth certificate with its picture, date of birth and the name of the creator. Someone buys the doll for 600 Kč, which is the price to vaccinate one child against six diseases, and then sends the creator a message saying that together, they saved a life."

The doll program is popular in the Czech Republic, where the creators include everyone from small children to high-end fashion designers, including a few prominent celebrities. "Karel Gott made a doll and named it after one of his songs, 'Cacao,' " says Gomba. "Lucie Bí­lá made two, the first with her mother and the second actually a red teddy bear."

The money raised in the Czech Republic — last year, a total of 81 million Kč — goes to support projects in Rwanda and Bhutan, countries chosen because they are of comparable size. "If the Czech Republic were to try to support India, for example, it would be like a drop in the sea," says Gomba. As philanthropists, she says that Czechs are "cautious donors, but they can be generous. The conditions are that they see the need, and have a guarantee that the money will not be abused."