Seattle City Tour kicks off the World Malaria Day fundraising challenge!

I can’t believe we are now in our 15th (!) city tour.  This week, the team and I are in Seattle. Like the other city tours, we are so impressed with our local supporters and partners. Today, we hosted a great public fundraising rally at Westlake Park, where it was officially proclaimed “Nothing But Nets Month” on behalf of Mayor Greg Nickels.

Local partners, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, joined us at the event and spoke to the crowd about the importance of how individuals can make a difference by being part of campaigns like Nothing But Nets. To close out the event, tons of kids and local supporters got the chance to take a free kick against a Sounders FC soccer player and play a little one-on-one basketball with the Storm’s mascot, Doppler.

During the event, we also officially launched our national World Malaria Day Fundraising Challenge! Representatives from Microsoft, UNHCR, the Seattle Sounders FC, the WNBA Storm and the Union for Reform Judaism joined us in this call to action - asking the local Seattle community and supporters worldwide to get involved in raising funds to send nets and save lives.

This kick-off event is just one of hundreds of fundraisers taking place to help Nothing But Nets reach its goal of sending 275,000 nets to protect over 600,000 refugees in Africa by World Malaria Day on April 25. Check out www.NothingButNets.net to view our map of fundraisers, or to add your own event to the map!