Nothing But Nets

Hey sports fans! What do you have planned this weekend? Going to a BBQ? Watching some fireworks? Well, how about helping to save some lives?

If you are in the Atlanta-area, check out the newest WNBA team – the Atlanta Dream – on Saturday, July 5th as they support the Nothing But Nets campaign! Click here to purchase tickets to the Atlanta Dream’s game against the Chicago Sky. A portion of all tickets sold will go back to the Nothing But Nets Campaign.

We already told you how much of a success World Malaria Day was this year, what with the hundreds of Nets Challenges, the events around the country, the awesome participation in our new online game, Deliver the Net, and the Nothing But Nets' message spread to millions of people around the world.

But here is the best part: you helped raise over $1.1 million for Nothing But Nets! Yes, that’s $1.1 MILLION.

Excitement for Nothing But Nets ran high at the North Georgia Annual Conference session last week. It all started when the delegation to General Conference presented Bishop Lindsey Davis with a basketball and issued a friendly challenge.

If Bishop Davis could shoot the ball into the basketball goal — which had just been rolled onto the floor — they would give $20 to Nothing But Nets. Soon people across the conference floor were waving cash in the air to match the challenge.   

Girl Scout Cookies are a familiar part of American culture. For more than 80 years, Girl Scouts have helped ensure the success of local Girl Scout Cookie activities. From its earliest beginnings to its current popularity, the sale of cookies has helped Girl Scout Brownies have fun, develop valuable life skills, and make the world a better place by helping to support Girl Scouting in their communities.

The First Grade Brownie Troop 895 in Barrington, Il., donated a portion of their Girl Scout Cookie sale profits to Nothing But Nets, $150.  The Brownies discussed as a troop how to spend the profits they earned and decided that a portion should be used to help others.

Recently, Nothing But Nets and Orkin's Fight the Bite campaign made a roar at Zoo Atlanta!  Orkin and Nothing But Nets teamed up to spread the word about mosquitoes and malaria prevention during Sports Zoolebrity Day – a day which featured members from Atlanta's professional sports teams, including the Falcons, Dream and Georgia Tech's men's basketball team. 

Families attending Zoolebrity Day had the opportunity to meet and greet the athletes, and also learn about malaria!  Nothing But Nets and Orkin set up tables in the Orkin Children's Zoo to educate zoo visitors about mosquitoes, malaria, and how easy it is to send a net and save a life. 

As we turn our attention to World Refugee Day, and despite the notable gains, malaria continues to be a leading cause of death among refugees. In 2007, malaria accounted for 21% of the total reported deaths and 26% of deaths in children under five years of age. Malaria was responsible for 23% of the total morbidity and 25% of under five morbidity.

Many factors may promote vulnerability to malaria illness and death among refugees. Refugee camps are often sited on marginal lands that promote breeding sites for mosquitoes. Refugees may be malnourished which can exacerbate cases of malaria. Travel may take refugees through or to areas of higher malaria endemicity than their place of origin. Prevention and control programs may have broken down or never been implemented or have not kept apace of recent global changes.

In the Detroit area, Walton Academy's K-8 students recently held a month-long Netraiser with the goal of raising $1,000 to purchase 100 bed nets. Throughout the month, the students became incredibly passionate about raising money for families in Africa.  Each day, students came to school with piggy banks, Ziploc baggies and pockets full of coins.  A thermometer in the school's main hallway tracked the funds, encouraging the students to keep raising the red bar.

A few students set personal goals to motivate themselves to earn the most money. They got competitive and creative by setting up lemonade stands, approaching their churches with donation requests and asking family members and friends to donate.

This year, DePauw University in Greencastle, Ind., hosted the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC) Track and Field Championships.  I am a runner at DePauw and have a passion for advocating for malaria awareness and raising funds for bed nets (I've held various events at DePauw and started Knitting for Nets through a Buzzcuts grant).  At first, the fact that World Malaria Day fell on the same day as the Conference meet seemed unfortunate.  How could I host an event when I had to be running? 
 
Then I realized we could combine the two events and maximize the amount of people we could reach.  Instead of just reaching the DePauw and Greencastle community we could reach people from Colorado, Texas, Tennesee, to name a few, all the fans and participants from the teams in our conference.