Nothing But Nets

You know the Game Plan: you, me, and thousands of others around the world are going to Sleep Out to End Malaria this Saturday night! You’ve been sending us your Sleep Out plans from dance parties, concerts, camping trips, business conferences, church lock-ins, and university Sleep Outs, and we’ve adding them to the map. With five more days until World Malaria Day, we already have more than 55 Sleep Outs on five continents and in 21 states across the U.S. (See our Sleep Out map below!) Together we are sleeping out so others can sleep safely!

If you live in Los Angeles, Nashville, Seattle, Philadelphia, New York, or Washington, DC, then we want you to be part of history. Join us at a featured Sleep Out event on a college campus near you. Celebrities, rock bands, professional athletes, film producers, and students are all grabbing their symbolic net-scarf to Sleep Out with us and spread the buzz about malaria. You can be a part of the team!

The 2010 college basketball season might have ended, but that doesn’t mean the Vanderbilt Commodores don’t have nets on their mind. This time, they’re thinking about malaria nets, and they’re ready to use their coaching skills to make a difference. This Saturday, April 17, the Commodores will be holding the “Dores for Nets” basketball tournament to raise funds for Nothing But Nets. The event will be a 3x3 basketball tournament for 3-8th grade boys, each team coached by a different Vanderbilt player. The draw is that the teams that raise more money for Nothing But Nets get a higher pick in a draft of Vanderbilt basketball players to coach their team for the day.

For the 100th anniversary of Boy Scouts of America, 12-year-old Nathaniel Stafford’s parents challenged him to do something big. In their eyes, a 10-15 mile hike to raise funds for charity was perfect. But Nathaniel wanted to go the extra mile — literally. He insisted, “This is the 100th Anniversary of Scouts so I am going to go 100 miles.” From February 22-March 2, Nathaniel braved the exceptionally frigid North Carolina winter on a 100 mile road hike that generated more than 300 bed nets to save lives!

Here is a great story we received from one of our supporters, teacher Veronica Balogh:

On February 3, 2010, sixth, seventh, and eighth grade students at Visintainer Middle School (Brunswick, OH) participated in "Stall the Teacher Day" to raise money for Nothing But Nets. At the beginning of each class period, students brought change to the teacher's desk. He or she had to count all of the change before class could begin!

We had some teachers counting for quite a long time. Assistant Principal Eric Frei challenged the students to raise $500. If the students met their goal, Mr. Frei would shave his head in front of the student body. The students raised more than $1,100 in one day, and Mr. Frei made good on his promise and shaved his head in front of all the Visintainer students -- as well as local news crews! 

It might come as little surprise to you that many mosquitoes roam the Nile Valley.  They also did so 3,000 years ago, and experts think they even killed one of the most powerful figures in Egyptian history: Tutankhamen, aka King Tut. A recent DNA-based study points to malaria as the probable cause of death for the nineteen year-old pharaoh.

This is a reminder that malaria, one of the deadliest diseases in human history, is also one of the oldest. Some experts claim that it even predates humanity!