Nothing But Nets

The UN has identified an urgent need to send life-saving bed nets to everyone who needs one in the Central African Republic (CAR) by the end of this year. We’re happy to announce that singer and actress Mandy Moore and PSI (Population Services International) are joining us and our UN partners to fill this need.

We have a special opportunity for you to learn more about this project, from Mandy herself! Join us on August 12 at 2pm ET for an exclusive chance to ask Mandy (and us) your questions during an interactive Facebook Townhall discussion. It’s easy – you’ll log in to Facebook, head to the Nothing But Nets page, and join the live conversation with Mandy and our malaria experts.

Scientists at the University of Arizona have made outstanding progress on stopping malaria in its tracks.  Led by scientist Michael Riehle, the scientists have had incredible success developing malaria-free mosquitoes.

How does one make a malaria-free mosquito? This works two ways: First, we know that malaria is caused by a parasite that the mosquito carries. The mosquito transfers this parasite to humans when she bites them.  So, the scientists were able to create mosquitoes that can no longer be infected with malaria and cannot transfer it to humans. Second, only mature mosquitoes can carry the malaria parasite. The scientists were able to create mosquitoes that do not live long enough to carry the disease.

Now they just have to spread these new and improved mosquitoes to the entire mosquito population. Easier said than done! Using only the modified mosquitoes can take up to 10 to 20 years, according to the article.  Despite this timeframe, "researchers are optimistic that genetic engineering of mosquitoes will be an important piece of the malaria-prevention puzzle."

Until then, let's keep spreading the buzz to send nets and save lives so we can reach the United Nations goal of ending malaria deaths by 2015. 
 

A long time ago, my wife Maureen and I experimented with ways to raise money for Nothing But Nets™. In our commitment to battle malaria to the best of our abilities, we tried many things:  at first, we simply went door-to-door dressed in our Sunday finery. When that failed we tried dressing as large mosquitoes and handed out homemade cookies. That produced mixed results, although the cookies were a hit. We still weren't happy with the level of awareness or money we were raising, so we put together a small music festival which was very successful and ballooned into Lilith Fair, but malaria got nary a penny. In quick succession we attempted a garage sale (some success), a pie-eating contest (more success), a dance (rip-roaring success) and a mime show (no success at all). 

We finally came up with a basketball game to raise awareness and money and it was a huge success, certainly more than the mime show. Having set fundraising goals early on, we found we had exceeded them before the game was even played.

The connection between the newly crowned World Cup Champions of Spain and the continent of Africa goes beyond South Africa hosting this year’s tournament. As España’s soccer team was busy fighting to be the world’s best on the field, a group of former Spanish basketball legends and celebrities were busy playing in a game of their own where the proceeds would support Nothing But Nets™ in their global fight against malaria! The 2nd annual “Partido Contra La Malaria” celebrity basketball game took place at the La Plana sports hall in Barcelona where Team Vida (Life) played against Team Deporte (Sport).  
 
In addition to the renowned former men’s basketball players, other participants included Sergi Bruguera, former champion of Roland Garros; Mireia Belmonte, Olympian and European swimming Champion and Jordi "Chiqui" Sans, international and five-time water polo Olympian. The teams were also mixed with four Spanish women’s national team players, Lucila Pascua, Anna Cruz, Laura Camps and Silvia Dominguez. It was undeniably a very exciting and competitive game, with the final score, in the high 80s. But the points that were scored were insignificant compared to the satisfaction that all the participants felt in contributing to the fight against such a deadly disease.

I had the amazing opportunity to go work with 2010 AMERICAN IDOL runner ups Tim Urban, Katie Stevens, and Aaron Kelly a couple weeks ago before they started up their summer tour around the U.S.  I traveled to Auburn Hills, Michigan, to spend the day with the IDOL contestants and film a short public service announcement for the UN Foundation’s Nothing But Nets™.  AMERICAN IDOL will be showing this video at every one of their concerts this summer!  (See if they’re coming to a city near you: http://www.americanidol.com/tour)

Tim, Katie, and Aaron were so fun to be around and so wonderful to take part of their rehearsal day to shoot a video with us about malaria. By the end of the shoot, they were all wearing Nothing But Nets™ wristbands and talking about how they wanted to go to Africa to help make a difference. Thank you to AMERICAN IDOL for caring about the cause of malaria and helping Nothing But Nets™ engage thousands of concert-goers this summer to donate $10 to send a net and save a life. Check out the video below:

With the Boy Scouts, Concerts, and the Colorado Rapids, we had a great time in the mile-high city. Though three days of straight rain had us feeling like we were back in Seattle, we kept on trucking—and on the one day the sun came out, so did the camera crews! Here’s a clip of Mozzie and crew on the evening news!

Co-authored by Dave Burton

Part 1: Sunday, July 11
On Friday night, United Against Malaria hosted a reception for all of the partners to wrap up a great collaboration over the last year, ending with the World Cup final games this weekend. It was a great opportunity to meet the different partners, and hear about their involvement. A true highlight was listening to the stories of Kingsley Holgate's expeditions up and down the rivers of Africa distributing bed nets.

From there we headed down to the concert. This was a truly proud night for malaria. Our malaria PSAs had the full attention of 12,000 people, who also heard personal stories from two soccer players and a passionate and beautiful presentation from South African singer Yvonne Chaka Chaka. It was great to see the United Against Malaria logo up on the screens throughout the concert - a fantastic tribute to how far this partnership has come. We also heard from singer Andrea Bocelli and a children's choir.

Co-Authored by Dave Burton

From the very humorous comment made by the KLM pilot leaving Amsterdam that "We will be able to get going as soon as the last of the vuvuzelas are loaded," to the decked out airport, to the international flags lining all the major roadways, it is clear that World Cup fever is everywhere.

We are now down to the final two teams in the tournament, and the talk turns to who everyone is now rooting for. No matter your favorite, being here in South Africa is a source of great pride for the country, and a fantastic chance for the world to focus its attention on the continent of Africa, both for its enormous beauty and its struggles.

Tonight, during the finale concert, we will have the opportunity to share important stories about malaria throughout the performances. I hope that along with football fever, team loyalty, and a great time, people are able to see that now is the time to get involved and make a difference. We are united against malaria. Send a net. Save a life.

It’s only July and we’ve accomplished so much already in 2010. World Cup ends in just a few days, so we wanted to share some highlights from our United Against Malaria partnership, the Buzz Tour, and of course, the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

• More than 27,000 supporters signed soccer balls, petitions and messages to show they are United Against Malaria, and are committed to end malaria deaths by 2015.

This past Sunday was World Refugee Day, and in honor of that, we wanted to say thank you one more time for all of your support in helping us to achieve our goal of sending one million nets to refugees in Africa by the end of 2009.

We’re proud to honor our commitment to the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), because at the end of the day the UN Foundation and Nothing But Nets are here to help the UN to solve global problems. We are committed to helping the UN end malaria deaths by 2015.

As the song in this video says, “The Time is Now.” The time is now to make a difference. The time is now to say thank you. Thank you again from the UN Foundation, Nothing But Nets, and thank you from the refugees who received your nets and messages of hope. 

The Washington Mystics did not wait for the last buzzer to pull off an impressive win against the New York Liberty a week ago. Instead, they pulled ahead in the first quarter and sustained their advantage. That is exactly the same strategy the Baltimore-Washington Conference of the United Methodist Church and the Mystics are playing in the matchup against malaria.

WNBA star and Nothing But Nets™ Champion Ruth Riley is not a stranger to medals and awards, with a shelf of hardware to show for it. She led the Detroit Shock to WNBA championships in 2003 and 2006, clinched the NCAA title with Notre Dame, and secured an Olympic gold medal. Now that’s quite a list of accomplishments! In fact, she’s one of only seven WNBA athletes who can boast of all three honors. Yet Nothing But Nets™ knows that what truly sets Ruth apart is her off-the-court performance, which has recently turned heads as well.

For months, we’ve been talking about World Cup, and it’s finally here. For the first time, the World Cup will be starting tomorrow, in South Africa. All eyes are on Africa and on the tournament, so it’s a great opportunity to raise awareness and funds to send nets and save lives from malaria, one of the leading killers of children in Africa.

But the soccer players aren’t the only ones competing – we’re challenging all of our NET-Raisers to a contest of your own to raise funds for bed nets throughout the World Cup tournament. The winner won’t get a championship trophy, but he NET-Raiser that raises the most during the World Cup (from June 11-July 11) will get a special prize pack of Nothing But Nets™gear, and will be featured as a Champion on NothingButNets.net. 

Not a NET-Raiser yet? It’s easy to become one. Sign up here and fundraise as an individual or start a team today! ANYONE can join the team to fight malaria and be United Against Malaria.

Let the games begin! Log into your NET-Raiser participant center now and start recruiting your team members to unite and score against malaria.

P.S. Send an email to info@nothingbutnets.net and let us know how you’re raising awareness about malaria during the World Cup!

We are honored to present you with the Nothing But Nets™ 2009 annual report, an inspirational story of our collective efforts to save lives from malaria over the last three years. 

It is amazing to think that this campaign has grown from an 815 word article in Sports Illustrated to an award-winning, grassroots campaign that has raised more than $30 million and distributed more than 3 million life-saving bed nets in just three years. The reason for this success is simple: YOU - the hundreds of thousands of you that have donated $10 to Nothing But Nets™ and asked your communities to also send a net and save a life.

The Nothing But Nets™ campaign has become a story of students coming together through bake sales and coin drives, of bishops and basketball players taking a shot to knock out malaria, and of CEOs and individuals alike spreading the buzz so that more and more children in Africa can sleep safely from malaria. We invite you to browse the Nothing But Nets™ 2009 annual report to see how your story has helped to grow the movement to end malaria.
 

Over the weekend we were in Los Angeles for our most recent stop of the Nothing But Nets™ Buzz Tour, and it was chock full of celebrity sightings. But the biggest celebrity of all seems to be Nothing But Nets™ itself! Everywhere we drove, from the Santa Monica pier to the soccer pitch, Los Angeles residents know about Nothing But Nets™ and were “stoked” to see us.

On Friday, the Buzz Tour hit the beach in Santa Monica and while at the 3rd Street Promenade, actor David Arquette stopped by to say how much he loved our campaign. Check out this short, high-energy video of David Arquette with Mozzie the Mosquito!  

These last few weeks have been particularly busy for the Nothing But Nets™ campaign – which is always a good sign. With the Buzz Tour making its way across the country from Chicago to Salt Lake City, to Los Angeles; an event with 2009 MLS Cup winner Real Salt Lake, MLS W.O.R.K.S., and the White House near the Washington Monument; and the World Cup kicking off next week, we have our hands full! So it's always nice to take time to pause and recognize the efforts of our partners and supporters in helping to save lives in innovative and tireless ways.

Yesterday in Chicago the Nothing But Nets™ campaign received such recognition!

I am proud to report that the Nothing But Nets™ campaign and our partner NBA Cares were honored with two awards from the Cause Marketing Forum for our partnership to prevent malaria in Africa. We won Gold and Silver awards for the Send a Net. Save a Life. See a Game. promotion we conducted with NBA Cares last December.

This week, Nothing But Nets™ teamed up with Major League Soccer’s Real Salt Lake to spread awareness about malaria. As the winner of last year’s MLS Cup, the soccer club met with President Obama today to receive his congratulations. 

Earlier in the week, the club co-hosted a malaria workshop with us on the Mall in front of the White House with local youth. The kids from DC Scores and the RSL Juniors soccer programs worked with Real Salt Lake players, Nothing But Nets™, and our friends at MLS W.O.R.K.S to perfect their soccer skills and learn how they can be part of the movement to send nets and save lives.

Since the Buzz Tour began in March, we’ve eaten barbeque in Kansas City, hung out with the Buckeyes in Ohio, chilled with our Champion Diego Gutierrez in Chicago, and watched soccer in Salt Lake. Along the way, we’ve met thousands of awesome Nothing But Nets™ supporters like yourself, and Mozzie has made lots of friends, too!

Take a look at some of our favorite moments on the Buzz Tour so far:

• Illinois Governor Pat Quinn declared it Nothing But Nets™ Week while we were in Chicago
• In Boston, we met with teacher Pat Mahoney’s 7th-grade class, who raised more than $18,000 to send nets and save lives!
• Our team member Danielle met a cab driver in New York who shared a moving story of why he had to leave Ghana because he was always sick with malaria

High school students in Utah have a new opportunity to get rewarded for sending nets – a summer kickoff with AMERICAN IDOL season 7 winner David Cook and Real Salt Lake in Tinto Stadium! Join the Real Salt Lake NET-Raiser team here or email Amanda Hammons to get involved with this important chance to send a net and save a life. The student who raises the most funds on the team from through June 4th will win the Ultimate Summer Kickoff Party thanks to RSL and Zions Bank!

What’s the Grand Prize? You, along with 25 of your friends, will have a limo ride to Rio Tinto Stadium, courtesy of Royal Limousine, to watch Real Salt Lake vs. LA Galaxy, along with free food and drinks. But it doesn’t stop there - the winner also receives FRONT ROW tickets for a David Cook post game concert and a meet and greet with this AMERICAN IDOL winner! There’s never been a better time for students in Utah to get involved with Nothing But Nets™ and make a difference!