Nothing But Nets

What am I talking about? Well if you noticed, I put a little banner over on the sidebar, that if you click on, it will take you to the website, "Nothing but Nets." I could say, I'm not talking Basket ball, but that wouldn't be true, basket ball is very involved, especially the NBA. It is one of our malaria initiatives of the United Methodist Church in concert with the NBA Foundation, the United Nations Foundation, Gates Foundation, Sports Illustrated, VH-1, and American Idol. Now can you imagine all those working together to do something to help the world be a better place? Its hard to imagine but they are. And guess what this thing is catching on like wildfire from children to adults, groups, churches, and individuals.

I issued a challenge to the church for the month of May to raise funds to buy enough nets to equal the number of members on roll. You see, our conference special offering this year goes to "Nothing but Nets". Last night in the United Methodist Women's meeting, we talked about the challenge. One of the women said, if I can save a life, by doing something so simple as buying a net, I am going to do it. She said it was one of those No Brainer things. These women are caring women, involved in many ways in the church, volunteering their time, talents and money. And I can see these women raising the money for "Nothing but Nets."

The next group I am talking to is the Bible Study tonight. And then the Youth, the Men's group, and then Sunday School. But I see the same response wherever I go.

Did you know… Every 30 seconds, a child dies in sub-Saharan Africa because of malaria. 9 out of 10 deaths caused by malaria occur in Africa. You can do something about it!

Nothing But Nets is a global grassroots campaign to save lives by preventing malaria, a leading killer of children in Africa. Malaria claims more than a million lives every year, mostly children. The good news is that malaria can be prevented by sleeping under an insecticide-treated bed net. Bed nets are an important tool in fighting malaria because they create a barrier against mosquitoes at night, when most transmission occurs. Just one bed net can keep an entire family safe from malaria transmission for up to four years!



A $10 donation goes directly toward the purchase, distribution, and education about the proper use of an insecticide-treated bed net. That doesn’t sound like much, right? And what’s more, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation will match each donation, net for net. Most people in sub-Saharan Africa live on less than $1 a day and cannot afford a life-saving bed net.

the UN Foundation has been working with the UN to fight malaria for years, it was a column that Rick Reilly wrote about malaria in Sports Illustrated, challenging each of his readers to donate at least $10 for the purchase of an anti-malaria bed nets -- and the incredible response from thousands of Americans across the country -- that led to the creation the Nothing But Nets campaign.

The reaction to Reilly's 815 words made clear that thousands of people were ready to help the million children dying unnecessarily each year of malaria. Within a few short months, Nothing But Nets raised over 1 million dollars. And so Nothing But Nets was born.

The Youth have their own Cool website for this called TheBuzzKill.net. You can even get a teeshirt to get the message across, and the money goes to the cause.



Hey, I am all about Nothing but Nets. How about you?

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