Nothing But Nets

Everyone has the power to help save lives and the students of Kelsey Norman Elementary School know this better than anyone! Teacher and Nothing But Nets supporter Zach Holden brought the campaign to his third-grade class with resounding success this past school year after having read “Hate Mail from Cheerleaders” by Nothing But Nets Champion and inspiration Rick Reilly. Zach’s students were eager to try to raise awareness about malaria and challenged the entire school to raise funds for bed nets.

To begin their project, the students researched malaria, the United Nations, Nothing But Nets, and poverty in Africa, and then created an educational brochure on all they had learned. Deciding to engage their entire community, Zach’s students passed these brochures out not only to other students, but to local businesses and community members as well!  

Tournaments, concerts, bake sales, and races – our youth supporters do it all! We recently heard from Chicago-area Girl Scouts about their efforts to raise funds to help end malaria. After hearing about Nothing But Nets on television and checking out our website, the Junior Girl Scouts Troop 1635 decided they wanted to do a bake sale fundraiser to purchase life-saving bed nets for this year's service project. The fourth-grade girls put their heads together and decided to sell all kinds of goodies after mass at St. Thecla church.

First the girls made posters to announce their bake sale on May 2-3. For two nights prior to the sale, all eight girls pitched in to make delicious and creative treats such as chocolate-dipped strawberries, pretzels and marshmallows on a stick, cookies, Rice Krispie Treats, frosted cookies, and a special trail mix! 

In the past couple of months of working with the Nothing But Nets campaign, I noticed that many of our supporters have held various events or requested donations in lieu of presents in honor of their Bar or Bat Mitzvah celebrations. I learned that the Hebrew word 'mitzvah' literally means 'commandment' and is understood to mean 'commanded to perform good deeds.' Considering the amount of lives saved by the funds raised through our supporters Bar and Bat Mitzvahs - good deeds have been performed, indeed! 

Recently, Nothing But Nets supporter Matthew Lawson informed the Rabbi (Rabbi Joel) at his synagogue (Congregation B'nai Jacob) that he wanted to raise money for Nothing But Nets in honor of becoming a Bar Mitzvah. They decided to hold a fundraiser for Nothing But Nets by hosting a basketball tournament including a free throw contest, 3-point contest and 3-on-3 games. The event raised more than $1200!
 

We are wrapping up a great DC City Tour and World Refugee Day this past Saturday – thanks to those of you who participated!

The multiple events and participation by celebrities, journalists and authors, partners and supporters like you allowed us to spread the word about malaria and the importance of spreading hope and sending nets to protect refugees. The District of Columbia  really stepped up to the plate when local partners committed to sending 10,000 bed nets to families in Africa.

On the heels of this, we know there’s a lot of information out there about refugees and their plight, and how malaria and other health issues intersect. With that in mind, we want you to ask us any questions you might have about refugee populations, and more specifically, how malaria impacts them. You can submit your question here, email us at info@nothingbutnets.net, or post a comment in response to this blog, and with the help of experts at the UN Foundation and the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), we’ll compile answers and report back in a follow-up email and through our blog on NothingButNets.net! No question is too basic!

I would like to share with you how and why I am pleased to be a part of Nothing But Nets. I first became aware of the organization after reading Rick Reilly's article in Sports Illustrated. I am a former soccer player so the analogy of sending the 'wrong nets' was powerful. I have also been to Africa twice with a volunteer medical group and have seen first-hand the extreme poverty and need.

I tucked the info about Nothing But Nets in my head, thinking I should act on it. I went on with life, celebrating holidays and birthdays with family, struggling to think of new and unique gifts, especially for my parents. They are always telling us, "no presents please, just help someone else." My whole life they have been taking care of other people and putting family and loved ones first. My parents never took a vacation on their own without the kids, and my dad worked hard to take us to the beach every year.

Adrianna Logalbo also contributed to this blog

While at the World Refugee Day event at National Geographic in Washington, DC earlier this week, I realized how fortunate I am to have a home and all the basic necessities I need to live my life. I cannot fathom what it would have been like to be in the shoes of Rose Mapendo, a refugee mother of 10 who was imprisoned during the conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo. 

Rose’s husband was executed at the prison and she was left with her children and the other widows and orphans who were fighting to survive. Each day she watched women and children led away by guards and she knew they would not return to their cells. She took care of the orphans and watched her friends die of hunger and sorrow. She said she believed the men were the lucky ones because they were killed quickly; it was the women and children who were left to fight for survival and their right to return home.

While in prison, Rose learned she was pregnant and gave birth to twins on the cold concrete floor of her cell surrounded by children.  To help her forgive her captors, she did the unthinkable and named her babies after the guards. With the help of the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and others, Rose was able to leave the DRC and is now living in Arizona with her children. She said she can never forget the people she left behind in her country and has started a non-profit to help others. For her work, she was awarded the Humanitarian of the Year Award. 

We had a great time at Katherine Kennedy's Nothing But Nets happy hour last night at Skye Lounge in Washington, D.C.  Katherine is a young philanthropist and star of the upcoming reality show "Blonde Charity Mafia." She reached out to her NET-works via Facebook, Twitter, and blogs to spread the word about malaria and to garner support for Nothing But Nets.

A big crowd showed up at the club to support the campaign and learn more about malaria and how they can get involved. A $10 cover charge went towards the purchase and delivery of a bed net! Throughout the night, Mozzie the Mosquito buzzed about as young professionals from all around DC mingled for a cause.

Beneath sunny skies at the US Navy Memorial - one of the most highly-trafficked areas in Washington, DC - Nothing But Nets and local partners kicked off the DC City Tour yesterday with an awesome announcement: the city of DC is committing to raising funds to send 10,000 bed nets to refugees in Africa through our campaign and the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR).

To get things started, Executive Director of Nothing But Nets Elizabeth Gore thanked all of our partners and supporters for helping us to continue to send nets and save lives from malaria in Africa. UNHCR Deputy Regional Representative Thomas Albrecht applauded the efforts of the UN Foundation and Nothing But Nets and said the UN agency was proud to have us as a partner in this effort. A malaria survivor himself, Albrecht said many refugees are not so lucky, and need all the protection they can get through insecticide-treated bed nets. 

More than 25,000 people participated daily in the Southern California Beach Soccer Championships in Oceanside, Calif., on May 17-18, 2009.  Participants played soccer in the sand, met celebrity guest and champion soccer player Ethan Zohn, and took part in a free soccer clinic.

But Marc Koehler, managing director of the Beach Soccer Championships and member of Life Thru Sports also made sure the kids at the event were taught the importance of giving back to their communities. Life Thru Sports is an organization that teaches kids life lessons through playing sports, as they learn the values of winning, losing and how to achieve their goals. At the Beach Soccer Championships, Marc chose Nothing But Nets to focus on as an opportunity to spread awareness about malaria and how easy it is to help prevent it. For every goal scored in the championship games, $10 went to Nothing But Nets. In the end, the tournament raised $120!

It’s time for another Nothing But Nets City Tour – our 16th – and we’re not traveling far from home this time. From June 13-23, we’ll be hosting events in our nation’s capital – Washington, DC. With World Refugee Day on June 20, we’ll be joining all of our DC partners and local supporters, including the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), to help fulfill the need for hundreds of thousands of bed nets for refugees in Africa. The week is filled with lots of fun stuff for you to participate in, so we hope to see you at one or more of these events! Check out the lineup below and RSVP to our events on the Nothing But Nets Facebook fan page, too!

• Nothing But Nets Night with D.C. United: Come out to watch a soccer game against the Chicago Fire, and stop by our table on the concourse! You can purchase tickets on the D.C. United website. 7:30pm, Saturday, June 13; RFK Stadium
  
  
• Nothing But Nets Kick-off Rally: We are gathering with all of our local partners, including mascots for the local sports teams at the US Navy Memorial where Councilman Jack Evans will be proclaiming it Nothing But Nets Week in DC. Partners include DC First Lady Mrs. Michelle Fenty, The United Methodist Church, D.C. United, NBA Wizards, WNBA Mystics, Union for Reform Judaism, Washington Bayhawks, Washington Kastles, UNHCR, and more! At the event, we will recognize all of our local supporters, so come on out. RSVP to info@nothingbutnets.net. 11:30am-12:30pm, June 16; U.S. Navy Memorial; 701 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW 

Keep reading for more events and details about the City Tour!

Did you know that every thirty seconds one child in Africa dies of malaria? Did you know that there is a simple and economic way to reach out to malaria victims? By donating $10, a family of four can utilize an insecticide-treated bed net for up to four years. After a great deal of research and inspiration, I ran across www.nothingbutnets.net, a campaign of the United Nations Foundation that distributes bed nets in Africa using the money that the public donates.

Why malaria, right? Well, I had been struck by a “Touchpoints” program that we were executing at school. The entire seventh and eighth grades were researching various infectious diseases, such as AIDS, West Nile Virus, and malaria. For a global community service project involving malaria, we chose Nothing But Nets as our key to unlocking new doors.

Unforgettable, inspiring, proud…those are just of a few of the adjectives I would use to describe my Mother’s Day. 
 
As some of you may already know, my daughter Katherine Commale is a champion NET-Raiser for Nothing But Nets. She began fundraising at the mere age of five, and now at 8-years-old, Katherine has raised more than $93,000. On Mother's Day, my whole family and I were honored to attend church services at Historic Saint George’s United Methodist Church in Philadelphia, Penn., founded in 1767.  Katherine and I were given the great privilege to share our story of how we have been raising money for bed nets for families in need in Africa. 
 
 

Yvette Garfield, who is passionate about introducing children to the world through food, created Handstand Kids Cookbooks with the hope that children will be inspired to use their new cooking skills to help others throughout the world. In her newest addition to the series, the Chinese Cookbook, Yvette encourages children to host local food fundraisers and features the Nothing But Nets campaign! You can find us alongside her chocolate noodle clusters – tasty!

In addition to including the campaign in her work, Yvette is also donating a portion of her cookbook sales from www.handstandkids.com to Nothing But Nets when customers use the promotional code NETS – another easy way to send nets and save lives! By using her own hobbies and interests, Yvette serves as another great example of how one person can make a difference in the fight against malaria.  

I feel lucky. Every day I get to work on this incredible campaign with dedicated people and wonderful partners. But it is our supporters who are truly inspiring – those of you who contribute your time, your energy and even your hard-earned funds to help protect people half a world away from a simple, albeit deadly, mosquito bite.

And there is one little person who is truly amazing. Many of you may know her story already, but Katherine is about to reach $100,000 raised – or 10,000 bed nets! And that deserves a shout-out! 

On Sunday, May 3rd, youth groups from six different United Methodist Churches gathered at St. Luke's to raise funds and awareness for Nothing But Nets.  Prior to the event, each group had a goal of collecting donations every day in April.  The youth leader from the group that raised the most money would have to appear on stage in fish nets in front of the May 3rd gathering!

The competition was stiff - in fact, so many donations were collected that the leader of each group decided to get up on stage and share in the silliness by the end of the night!

The crowd was later entertained by an improv show performance made up of members of St. Luke's UMC in Highlands Ranch. An iPod shuffle was offered up as a door prize, as well as two autographed sports items, a Colorado Avalanche Hockey Stick and a Denver Nuggets Basketball provided by Kroenke Sports; all of which raised a total of $700 for bed nets.

Nothing But Nets is proud to provide hope to families in Africa by distributing bed nets. I feel particularly privileged to have been able to hand nets to mothers and see their smiles firsthand. I know that when I give a refugee a bed net, we are one step closer to saving a life.

On recent trips with the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) to refugee camps in Kenya and Uganda, we’ve also been able to provide message of hopes along the bed nets. These special messages were written by Nothing But Nets supporters just like YOU. Supporters first began writing messages of hope to refugees during our city tour visits this past fall. Soon we had collected hundreds of messages of hope! It is a great way for supporters to connect to the families who are receiving the bed nets.

Now we want all of our supporters to have the chance to send a personal message along with a life-saving bed net to families through Nothing But Nets. We’ll collect these notes and work with UNHCR to deliver them with the nets over the coming year.  Send a net, save a life and send a message today. 
 

Malaria kills, but it is a global problem with a global solution. Gaining an international presence, the Nothing But Nets campaign continues to expand our constituency of grassroots supporters who are united in the effort to send nets and save lives. We recently have included Skopje, Macedonia into our NETwork of supporters committed to eliminating malaria!

Students, parents, and teachers of the QSI International School of Skopje recently came together to raise $1,000 for Nothing But Nets through a school-wide fundraising event! To commemorate World Malaria Day on April 25th, the school also hosted Michael Fritz and his assistant Agnesa Lamaxhema from USAID Macedonia during its Community Time. Students, parents, and teachers all learned how malaria kills more than one million people each year, and how this deadly disease can be easily averted through the use of proven prevention methods such as insecticide-treated bed nets. The school was even able to get local media coverage to further raise awareness in the community about bed nets!

We’re proud to have a partner like singer Usher Raymond for the UN Foundation and Nothing But Nets – he was recently inducted into the Boys and Girls Club of America Alumni Hall of Fame. Usher credits much of his success to the people in his life who supported him and helped him to reach his goals and follow his dreams.

And now, he’s excited to help us prevent malaria. In this CNN clip, Usher speaks about how he recently teamed up with our campaign to send bed nets. As he says, “It’s a small investment but a huge net payoff in the end.” Usher is all about paying it forward – and we are, too. Check back here to find out more about Usher’s work with the UN Foundation and Nothing But Nets and see how you can pay it forward by getting involved and send nets to save lives!

The celeb and non-profit worlds are still abuzz with recent commitments to fighting malaria, but now there are new Champions getting into the game.. Last week, the Obama administration announced a commitment to spend $63 billion over the next six years to fight global diseases and provide more aid for children’s health in developing countries. Read this statement commending the announcement from the UN Foundation’s Vice President of Global Health, Dr. Daniel Carucci.

This is great news for Nothing But Nets. Some of that money will be going towards malaria, and we are so excited to know that we’re not in this fight alone! We’ve seen in recent months that malaria prevention is a high priority for our government, as shown by President Obama’s statement on World Malaria Day and a congressional resolution to commemorate April 25. 

Wow, what a turnout! Connecting Nothing But Nets with Davidson College Basketball created an incredible event for all age groups. There were 27 teams in a 3-on-3 tournament and each team was asked to raise money to purchase more nets. More money raised meant a higher pick in a draft of Davidson College basketball players to coach that team for the day. A 3rd/4th grade team raised a whopping $770 to capture first pick of NBA-bound Stephen Curry!  

All the fundraising efforts by the teams brought in $5,400. The online auction was a hit as well! There were winning bidders from all over the country and the collection of Davidson basketball items raised $3,654! Lastly, the live auction of five "big ticket" items raised another $2,450!