• 
  • 
  • 
  • 
  • 
  
  • 
  • 
  • 
• 
  Sponsor a High School
  Sponsor a College/Universities
• 
  High Schools Click Here
  College/Universities Click Here
• 
  High Schools Login Here
  College/Universities Login Here

• spreadthenet.org
• contact us


• français

Share on Facebook
Join the Group

About the Spread the Net Student Challenge

What is Spread the Net?

Spread the Net is a campaign, a movement, a manifesto. Founded by Belinda Stronach and Rick Mercer following their trip to Africa in 2005, Spread the Net is a campaign designed in partnership with UNICEF Canada as a simple and affordable solution to the devastating impacts of malaria.

Malaria is the single leading cause of death of children under the age of five in Africa. In fact, every 30 seconds a child dies of malaria – that’s almost 3,000 children a day. But the goal of Spread the Net is to change this.

What is the Spread the Net Student Challenge?

Young Canadians in schools and campuses are invited to join the nationwide Spread the Net Student Challenge and help raise funds for the purchase of insecticide-treated bed nets for Liberia and Rwanda – two nations struggling in the fight against malaria.  

Over the past two years, thousands of students from hundreds of schools across Canada have joined in the fight.  Thanks to your hard work, creativity and dedication more than $650,000 has been raised allowing us to deliver more than 65,000 bed nets! An amazing accomplishment but there is still much work to be done.

Our challenge to Canadian students this year is to help Spread the Net reach the founding goal of delivering 500,000 bed nets by raising at least $275,000 or enough to deliver 27,500 nets to children and families in Liberia and Rwanda.

Rick Mercer, co-founder of the Spread the Net campaign is once again on board as the champion for the challenge and has added a unique twist to the challenge for 2009/2010, West vs. East!  This year we are calling on schools in the West (British Columbia, Yukon, Alberta, North West Territories, Nunavut, Saskatchewan and Manitoba) to take on schools in the East (Ontario to Newfoundland)!

The top fundraising high school, college or university from the West and the top one from the East will each receive a personal visit from Rick and will be featured on an episode of The Rick Mercer Report in March 2010!

Check out a clip from The Rick Mercer Report featuring the top fundraisers from the 2008/2009 challenge.

One insecticide-treated bed net costs only $10.  Just think about it: $10 can buy a couple of music downloads or a trip to the movies. Or it can help to save lives. Treated bed nets have been shown to reduce malaria transmission by at least 50 percent and deaths of children under five by up to 20 percent! 

The Goal

We are challenging young Canadians in schools and campuses to raise at least $275,000 between September 10th, 2009 and February 26th, 2010 to contribute another  27,500 long-lasting insecticide-treated bed nets to children and pregnant women in Liberia and Rwanda. With the help of students just like you, we can reach this goal, make a difference and save lives!