Stars Say Trick or Treat

By Stephen M. Silverman

07/10/1998 at 12:00 AM EDT

Susan Sarandon, Sarah Jessica Parker, Maya Angelou and Harry Belafonte were among the luminaries at last night's 50th anniversary gala for the Trick or Treat for UNICEF program in Manhattan. The brainchild of a group of families in Philadelphia in 1950, the Halloween tradition of children helping children has lasted for 50 years. According to Charles Lyons, president of the U.S. Fund for UNICEF, the organization has "raised over $100,000,000, and it has literally saved children's lives, because those coins are translated into vaccines and vitamins, and school books." Angelou, speaking to PEOPLE, said, "I believe that when we allow ourselves to focus on the children, we might remember what it was like to have been a child. We might remember childhood, our fears, terrifying fears, our joys, almost crazy joys. If we can remember, we might be kinder to children and then to other people, larger people, and maybe even to ourselves."