A child just given a protective malaria net.

Bishop issues One-for-One Malaria Net Challenge

During his convention address, Bishop Greg Rickel issued a challenge to the diocese: help end malaria by buying enough disease-preventing nets to represent every member of the Diocese of Olympia. The challenge comes just as we head into gift-giving season, and so the Seattle Women’s Development Council (WDC) is working in partnership with Episcopal Relief and Development (ERD) to make it easy for people to give the gift of life this year.

Over 300 million people per year contract malaria, 1 million of whom die, most of them African children. Yet by sleeping under a malaria net, children and adults are protected from the mosquitoes which cause malaria. ERD, through its NetsforLifeSM program, sells these nets for $12—$1 a month, $.25 a week or about $.04 a day—including the cost of distributing the nets, educating each person on how to use the net, and follow-up later to ensure the nets are being used, and used properly. Nets last for five years.

The WDC decided to create a gift card so that when a person buys a net, they receive a card which they can then send to a friend or relative. Three hundred fifty cards were sold at Diocesan Convention, and half of the convention offering went toward kicking off the challenge, which gleaned nearly $5000. By the end of convention, $10,200 had been raised for NetsforLifeSM. If each of the 33,000 members of the diocese bought a net, nearly $400,000 would be raised toward Goal Six of the Millennium Development Goals: combating HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases.

Look for a member of the WDC or a representative in your congregation during Advent; they will be giving presentations on malaria and making the nets available for purchase. ERD will acknowledge each net purchase as a tax-deductible donation.

Ways to Support NetsforLifeSM and the One-for-One Malaria Net Campaign:

Order nets from the ERD Gifts for Life Catalog.
ERD will send a card to the gift recipient (a different card from what the Seattle WDC is offering).

OR

Donate to the Malaria Fund/NetsforLife here
(select the Malaria Fund/NetsforLife from the pull down)

Perhaps your employer will match your donation!

Buy/sell cards from the Seattle WDC (look for them in your congregation during Advent)

Ask your congregation to make a donation to NetsforLifeSM