Nets

This post has been copied from Inspire Co. with Amy's permission - it's informative, inspiring and caring - and definitely worth sharing. Here in Australia we don't hear much about malaria other than when we go to some overseas countries we need to take tablets to prevent catching it.

This is what Amy has written:

A couple of months ago Crystal of A Little Bit Funky felt the nudge to do more with her blog than just write and share...She felt like she was being led to use her blog as a catapult for showing God's love. I want to share her story with you. I hope you are as moved by it as I am.

Crystal had the brilliant idea to make a quilt, a magnificent quilt, to offer as a sort of raffle in exchange for mosquito nets purchased for those who desperately need them in Africa.She contacted sweet Jody from Fabric Shoppe...and told her what she was on a mission to do...Jody almost immediately offered to donate ALL of the fabric Crystal would need to make the quilt. Think about the generosity in that offer...that's a lot of fabric to send to a stranger with a promise to make a quilt to benefit a charity. Crystal cried in the parking lot after she read that email. And then a friend offered to pay for the batting and the shipping. Everything was coming together so well and Crystal was so excited to get started.

In Crystal's own words:
"God is responsible for all of this coming together. God loves all people. God loves Africa...and all those sweet people who are suffering from something that is SO easily helped..."

"To me...each piece of fabric in this quilt stands for a family or person...or BABY...that together we can help...and this may sound crazy...but if you are one of the many who have told me of plans to adopt from Africa...the net you buy just may save YOUR future baby. Crazy cool, right?"

Malaria kills over 1 MILLION precious people PER YEAR!!!

In fact, there are 10 new cases of malaria every second.
Every 30 seconds, a child in Africa dies from a malaria infection. A child that is no less precious or loved or held dear by his parents than our own children.
By buying ONE net a family of four can sleep under an insecticide-treated bed net, safe from malaria, for four to five years.

The benefits of bed nets extend even further than protecting those sleeping underneath them. The insecticide woven into each net makes entire communities safer – killing and repelling mosquitoes so that they can’t go on to bite others who may not be protected by a net.

Although $10 for a bed net may not sound like much, the cost makes them out of reach for most people at risk of malaria, many of whom survive on less than $1 a day.
Just think...to us $10 is a couple of latte's...a movie...a shirt...a lunch out...a CD...a couple of magazines...any number of frivolous things that we all throw money at...can I challenge us all to give those up for a day...or a week or a month...and give a net or two or three instead?

Let's help Crystal show God's love to people in Africa. Each net you buy is ONE entry into the raffle to win this quilt!And as a special little touch...to help you remember what this quilt represents...she added this cute little tag. :)
Go buy a net by clicking HERE.
The winner will be chosen NEXT FRIDAY the 23rd!! So every net bought by Thursday the 22nd at midnight will count as ONE entry.
Now...pretty, pretty, PLEASE...go BUY A NET...and spread the word!!

Amy