Nothing But Nets (Washington, DC)
29 October 2009
press release
From October 23-30, 2009, the United Nations Foundation's Nothing But Nets, a global, grassroots campaign to prevent malaria in Africa, will travel to refugee camps in Uganda to help distribute anti-malaria bed nets.
Nothing But Nets supporters Lynda Commale, Megan Kelley, and David Maestri will join campaign director Adrianna Logalbo on the UN Foundation-led trip to Uganda where they will meet with refugees and representatives from the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) to learn more about the malaria burden and to help distribute life-saving bed nets. Handwritten messages of hope from hundreds of Nothing But Nets supporters will also be distributed to families as they receive their nets.
"We have been working hard with our supporters this past year to raise awareness and funds to protect more than one million refugees in 15 African countries from malaria, the number one killer of refugees in Africa," said Adrianna Logalbo, Director of Nothing But Nets. "I'm excited to bring some of our supporters with us to help distribute nets to displaced families in Uganda."
The supporters on this trip include Lynda Commale, mother of Katherine Commale, our extraordinary eight-year-old champion who has teamed up with her mother to raise more than $100,000 for Nothing But Nets; Megan Kelley, a student at Gordon College in Wenham, Massachusetts, and winner of the Nothing But Nets MTV Exiled challenge; and David Maestri, a young entrepreneur and creator of the popular Mob Wars Facebook application, who was chosen to participate on this trip after he engaged his NETwork in the campaign as part of a Summit Series challenge.
Along with the bed nets, Lynda, Megan, and David will distribute thousands of messages of hope, including their own, to displaced families in the camps. These messages of hope have been collected from supporters across the U.S. over the past year, and offer personal words of encouragement to the recipients of the nets they have sent.
"It is deeply moving to be able to meet the families we are dedicated to protecting and to share messages of hope from our supporters. I love that families in the U.S. are able to truly connect with families half a world away," said Logalbo.
Malaria infects more than 500 million people around the world each year, killing more than 1 million. The disease is a leading killer of children and refugees in Africa, where 90 percent of malaria deaths occur. Every 30 seconds a child in Africa dies from a malaria infection. Bed nets prevent malaria transmission by creating a protective barrier against mosquitoes at night, when the vast majority of transmissions occur.
This year, Nothing But Nets has teamed up with UNHCR to protect more than one million refugees in 15 African countries from malaria. The campaign has passed the halfway mark, and can achieve its goal if 200,000 people donate $10 by December 31, 2009. Nothing But Nets is encouraging all of its supporters to give the gift of life to a refugee in Africa this holiday season. For only $10, anyone can send a net and save a life; and together we can cover Africa.
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