Nothing But Nets

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.

It’s a big week for Nothing But Nets as our Buzz Tour kicks off in Atlanta! We’re rolling into towns all over the U.S. to spread the buzz about World Malaria Day and fire up our supporters including students, youth groups,  Major League Soccer teams and fans, and community leaders. Our first stop on the Buzz Tour is Columbus, Ohio! 

On Saturday, March 27th, we’re teaming up with Major League Soccer W.O.R.K.S. to host an in-stadium night with the Columbus Crew to raise awareness about malaria prevention. Meet the Nothing But Nets team outside pre-game at soccer celebration to learn how we are sending nets and saving lives in the lead-up to the 2010 World Cup in South Africa!

On New Year’s Eve, Nothing But Nets supporters gathered at Skye Lounge in Washington, DC, to put on their party hats, sound their noisemakers, and ring in 2010 with a purpose. This celebration was unique: it was the only party in the city where guests helped send nets and save lives simply by joining in on the fun!

Thanks to our friends at Skye Lounge, a portion of ticket sales were donated to Nothing But Nets to purchase long-lasting insecticide-treated bed nets for refugees in need.

Residents of the Nation’s Capital came dressed in sequins and ties to celebrate the biggest night of the year, all while helping the Nothing But Nets campaign deliver 160,000 life-saving bed nets to protect refugees in Africa by New Year Eve.

To me, nothing embodies one’s coming of age more than having a global vision. Especially for a younger audience, it’s all too easy to get caught up in pop culture, school assignments, or the countless entertainment channels that are so readily at our fingertips. Despite all these distractions, an elite tier of individuals stand as a shining example of our youngest generation’s potential.

Each week Nothing But Nets hears your stories of how youth are serving as role models in their communities. So what is it about our Nothing But Nets youth supporters that set them apart? Plain and simple, it’s their ability to recognize and impact a global problem.

Madeline is one such example, representing the many supporters that raise funds for life-saving bed nets in honor of their Bat or Bar Mitzvah. After researching malaria for a school paper, Madeline learned how more than a million people die from malaria each year and that malaria kills more children in African than any other disease. Now it hasn’t been that long ago for me to recall that with such an assignment, most students would turn in their papers, hope for a good grade, and quickly disregard what was learned. Yet Madeline saw this as an opportunity to go to each classroom in her school and explain the devastating effects of malaria. She even told them about Nothing But Nets and how easy it is to save lives!

Your birthday is the one day a year that’s all about you, with cake, presents, parties, and birthday wishes. But bed nets, too? They aren’t exactly an obvious fit for most people, but Evelyn from Virginia doesn’t see it that way. Lara Ivey recently shared with Nothing But Nets how her family uses birthdays to have “teachable moments” and make a difference in the world. Blessed with two beautiful, healthy children, the Iveys decided that each year birthdays will be a time for celebrating what they have and what they can share. 

For the past several years, the oldest, Jacob, has used his birthday as a way to raise money and awareness for those in need. His younger sister Evelyn, who turned six this year, had been itching to take part in “birthday giving” like her big brother and decided she was now ready to take on this challenge. Rather than receive gifts, she admirably asked her birthday guests to make a monetary donation to Nothing But Nets to help prevent malaria.  Evelyn knows that in 10 years she wouldn't remember little gifts that were given, but she will definitely remember the feeling of giving to this worthy cause. Wise beyond her years, she says, "Children will die if they don't have these nets, but I won't die if I don't have more toys."

My favorite part of coming into work every day is hearing from YOU – our remarkable supporters! Leading up to World Refugee Day in June, I had the pleasure of hearing from a new supporter, the president of Youth for Human Rights of Tampa Bay. When researching a project for World Refugee Day, this impressive group came across Nothing But Nets and learned how easy it is to prevent malaria in refugee camps. Immediately, they created a NET-Raiser Team to begin helping refugees in need!
 
Inspired by their ability to make a real impact, the youth set a goal to raise enough funds to cover a small refugee camp as part of their project. Youth for Human Rights of Tampa Bay volunteers began asking everyone they met one simple question: "If you could save a life for $10, would you?" 

Philanthropists can be any age. Acts of kindness can take many forms. Everyone can make a difference in the fight against malaria. This I’ve learned from a little girl named Haley Neumiller, Nothing But Nets newest star supporter from Washington. This young MVP started “Haley Fights Malaria” as a way to help others. When she learned that every 30 seconds a child dies of malaria—with most under the age of 5—she was sold on the cause.

Upon catching a glimpse of the documentary “Sons of Lwala” while her parents were watching the film, Haley decided she wanted to do something to help the fight against malaria. Just a few months shy of her fifth birthday, Haley asked her parents to help her start a business making and selling bracelets to “make money for malaria.” Haley, now five years old, spends nearly every evening before bed crafting her beautiful hand-made bead bracelets. She came up with the name "Haley Fights Malaria" that is printed on cards she hands out with the bracelets, along with some facts about malaria. 

Rick Reilly said it best in the column that inspired the Nothing But Nets campaign: “Sports is nothing but net.” And accordingly, our supporters know better than anyone how to take a little competition and a lot of fun to make sporting events successful fundraisers for life-saving bed nets. Three years after the column first appeared in Sports Illustrated, our supporters have met Rick’s challenge and raised more than $27 million together for nets.

Despite many successes, our work is far from done. Children are still dying every 30 seconds from a preventable disease. Thankfully, our amazing supporters continue to host events that raise funds for a simple solution! Most recently, Temple Shalom of Newton took Rick Reilly’s words to heart and hosted a Free Throw Shooting Competition to benefit Nothing But Nets. The event took place as part of the Temple Shalom’s 13th Annual Mitzvah Day where the congregation comes together to benefit a variety of worthy endeavors. 

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! 

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.  

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!

The United Nations Special Envoy for Malaria, Ray Chambers, recently released a report highlighting the advances that have been made in expanding malaria control interventions. The report cites notable progress in achieving Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s goal of providing universal distribution of proven malarial interventions to all endemic African countries by the end of 2010.

Mr. Chambers notes that the expansion of prevention and treatment options are the result of a bolder global commitment to fight malaria, including over $3 billion in pledges for malaria funding, and underscores last year’s announcement that the world can reach near-zero deaths from malaria by 2015 with increased momentum.