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IN 2006 RICK REILLY WROTE A COLUMN THAT STARTED NOTHING BUT NETS –

NOW 10 YEARS LATER HIS DREAM OF CROSSING THE FINISHLINE ISN’T A DREAM ANYMORE – IT CAN HAPPEN

In 2006 sports columnist Rick Reilly inspired a movement that changed millions of lives with a single column. That movement – Nothing But Nets is the world’s largest, grassroots campaign to save lives by preventing malaria, a disease which claims the life of a child every two minutes.

Nothing But Nets raises awareness, funds, and voices to protect families, leading the movement to defeat malaria worldwide, which so far has cut childhood deaths from malaria by 71%, saving more than 6.2 million lives.

Hundreds of thousands of people have joined the campaign that was created by the United Nations Foundation in 2006 – raising $60 million to help deliver nearly ten million bed nets to families in need, along with other crucial malaria interventions. Now in their tenth year, Nothing But Nets aim is to deliver their ten millionth net and achieve The Million Nets Pledge, a two-year commitment to protect refugees and their families across sub-Saharan Africa from malaria.

The campaign works closely with NBA MVP, Stephen Curry, to engage the sports community in its mission to save lives. For the fourth consecutive year, Stephen donates three bed nets to Nothing But Nets for every three-pointer he makes during the NBA season. And in 2013, he traveled to Tanzania with the campaign and Rick Reilly to hand-deliver nets to refugees and hang them in homes.

It only costs $10 to purchase and deliver an insecticide-treated bed net, provide education on its proper use, and provide other malaria reduction interventions that can prevent this deadly disease. Visit www.NothingButNets.net to send a net and save a life.

INTERVIEW WITH:

· Sports Illustrated’s Rick Reilly is a member of the National Sportswriters and Sportscasters Hall of Fame. He’s been voted National Sportswriter of the Year 11 times over a career that began in 1979. In May of 2006, Rick Reilly wrote a single column that wound up changing millions of lives. In that column, Reilly asked his Sports Illustrated readers to send $10 each to hang malaria nets over kids in Africa. He invented, on the spot, the movement he called, “Nothing But Nets.” It raised $100,000 in the first week and $1 million in the first month. He has recently returned to Sports Illustrated and continues to raise awareness for Nothing But Nets.

· Chris Helfrich is the Senior Director of Nothing But Nets, a global, grassroots campaign to save lives by preventing malaria, a disease which claims the life of a child every two minutes. Nothing But Nets has raised more than $60 million to deliver nearly ten million bed nets to the most vulnerable populations in Africa, including refugees. Campaign partners include the National Basketball Association’s NBA Cares, Junior Chamber International, and Major League Soccer’s MLS W.O.R.K.S.

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