Nothing But Nets

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!