Nothing But Nets Blog

You did it! You helped send 20,525 life-saving bed nets to families across sub-Saharan Africa in honor of World Malaria Day. And just like I asked, you made me give until it hurt by meeting my matching gift challenge. Ponying up the full $20,000 is the best hit my wallet's ever taken.

"We need nets. Not hoop nets, soccer nets or lacrosse nets.
Not New Jersey Nets or dot-nets or clarinets.
Mosquito nets.

See, nearly 3,000 kids die every day in Africa from malaria. And according to the World Health Organization, transmission of the disease would be reduced by 60% with the use of mosquito nets and prompt treatment for the infected.

We gotta get these nets...
You need about $10, all told, to get them shipped and installed...
10 bucks means a kid might get to live."

The words above are from the most important column I ever wrote for Sports Illustrated -- the column that inspired the UN Foundation to launch the Nothing But Nets campaign five years ago today.

A few years ago I wrote a Sports Illustrated column that inspired the United Nations Foundation to create Nothing But Nets to fight malaria. In only three years, hundreds of thousands of supporters like YOU have raised nearly $30 million and sent close to three million nets to children, pregnant women, and refugees in Africa. Wow.

We're saving lives!

This year Nothing But Nets has teamed up with the UN Refugee Agency to protect more than one million displaced families in Africa from malaria, the number one killer of refugees. Good news—we're almost there! We need 160,000 nets before December 31, 2009, to reach our goal. To get us to the finish line, I'm going to match your donation - net for net - up to a total of $25,000.

Still not enough? How about a free-throw? To make the deal even sweeter, our partners at NBA Cares will throw in two free tickets to an NBA game for every $10 donation. Send a Net. Save a Life. See a Game. That's a full day, right?!

Seriously, refugees need nets, and need your help to get them—give the gift of life this holiday season and help Nothing But Nets drop the New Year's Eve ball on malaria.

Thank you for joining Nothing But Nets, the global campaign to save lives by preventing malaria. When I learned that a million kids die each year of malaria, I wrote a column asking people to give $10 for malaria bed nets. I started to get letters. And checks. Already, more than 17,000 people have raised $1.2 million—enough to buy 100,000 nets.
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