Hello students, teachers and faculty from across Canada.

Welcome back! It’s that time of year again! Since 2004, volunteer citizens like you and me have made a commitment to save lives from malaria. Students should be very proud to know they have raised money to protect thousands of families in Africa from this deadly disease. Thank you so much for your ongoing support!

We are very excited to announce the launch of the Beading Up Malaria initiative to help you in your fundraising efforts! In partnership with BeadforLife (www.beadforlife.org), beads are an excellent way to raise funds for nets and anti-malaria medicine.

Everyone loves beads, and these are very special beads. They are made by African women out of recycled paper. Buy-A-Net purchases the beads from BeadforLife, and through resale to you, Buy-A-Net uses the proceeds to buy bed nets and anti-malaria medicines.

Not only will you help to save lives from malaria, but you will help to end poverty by creating sustainable employment for African women, and help to protect the environment, too!

Please contact our office at 1(613)542-1264 to receive your fundraising kit and/or beads, or look through the website for more information.

Sincerely,

Debra Lefebvre and
The Buy-A-Net Team

Kingston, Ontario – September 9, 2010 African women will work together with Canadian citizens to dig themselves out of poverty and help to save lives from malaria. Debra Lefebvre, Executive Director, Buy-A-Net Malaria Prevention Group, announced the partnership with BeadforLife, harnessing the popularity of “beading” to bring an end to malaria and poverty.

“We are happy to join BeadforLife’s poverty eradication efforts by empowering women to lift themselves and their families from poverty, all by turning trash into treasure,” said Debra Lefebvre. “In doing so, the proceeds from the sale of the beads will be used to purchase bed nets and drug therapies for malaria treatment and control. Ultimately, the “Beading Up Malaria” initiative will bring more hope to ending malaria, which will help to end poverty. Malaria puts 50 million pregnant women at risk each year, and takes a child’s life every 30 seconds. We will save lives of mothers and children. It is a powerful partnership.”

“We are thrilled to participate in this initiative,” says Devin Hibbard, Co-Executive Director of BeadforLife. “BeadforLife partners with women to help them help themselves out of poverty by making income from paper beads, and eventually opening businesses so they are self-sufficient. Malaria is a disease that causes incredible suffering and economic devastation across Africa, so bed nets are critical for everyone.”

Buy-A-Net hopes to begin a beading movement that will spread across the country in schools, universities and various others, and will engage other non-profit organizations who recognize the potential of this campaign to empower women, save lives from malaria, and alleviate poverty. This initiative is supported by The Belinda Stronach Foundation, a global leader in the fight against malaria.

Beads can be obtained by contacting Buy-A-Net at 613-542-1264, or e-mail at buyanet@buyanet.ca.

Launched in 2004, Buy-a-Net Malaria Prevention Group (www.buyanet.ca) is Canada’s first citizen-driven, registered charitable organization that seeks to prevent deaths from malaria. The campaign, whose slogan – “7 BUCKS, BUY-A-NET, SAVE A LIFE” – provides advocacy and awareness about malaria, and raises funds needed for the procurement of long lasting insecticide treated bed nets and drug therapies. In partnership with community-based groups, the nets and medicines are distributed one village at a time, free-of-charge.

About BeadforLife: BeadforLife creates sustainable opportunities for impoverished women to lift themselves out of poverty by creating a circle of connection between women in Uganda and women around the world. Women in Uganda work hard to roll beautiful bead jewelry out of recycled paper and harvest shea nuts to make shea butter. Women worldwide sell these items and educate themselves and others about extreme poverty. The profits return to Uganda and fund health care, housing and business training initiatives. www.beadforlife.org

http://telegraphjournal.canadaeast.com/article/1189587

Canadian Rotarians have been at the forefront of efforts to prevent malaria deaths in Africa.

Rotary clubs have partnered with the Buy-A-Net Malaria Prevention Group, a Canadian charitable organization founded in 2004 to combat the disease in Uganda, one village at a time.

The Rotary clubs of Cataraqui-Kingston, Ontario, and Kololo-Kampala, Uganda, teamed up with Buy-A-Net last year on a US$47,000 malaria prevention project in Kampala. Rotarians contributed club donations and District Designated Fund allocations, and Buy-A-Net served as the implementing partner.

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The Cataraqui-Kingston and Kololo-Kampala clubs hosted a booth with Buy-A-Net at the 2010 RI Convention in Montréal, Québec, in June, to scale up their efforts by getting more clubs involved. Gray also served as a moderator for a breakout session on malaria prevention with panelists from the Canadian Parliamentary Malaria Caucus and the Canadian Red Cross, and an official from the Ugandan Ministry of Health. Experts from Rotarians Against Malaria, a Rotary Australia World Community Service activity, and Rotarians Eliminating Malaria: A Rotarian Action Group attended the session.

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Gray says the booth at the convention was inspirational. “Buy-A-Net had people in the booth the whole time. We had Rotarians from Uganda and my district working side by side and getting to know one another. There was lots of enthusiasm from everyone.”

Lefebvre says Buy-A-Net has received hundreds of inquiries from Rotary clubs to collaborate on efforts to “net a village.”

“The need to eliminate malaria is staggering,” she says. “We welcome more partnerships with Rotarians. Ugandan Rotary clubs are ready and willing to facilitate.”

Visit the Rotary website for the full article.