Final push is on for spread the net

Thanks to the support of the community St. Joseph-Scollard Hall Catholic Secondary School has raised enough money for 2000 bed nets for the Rick Mercer ‘Spread the Net’ challenge.

To date the school has raised $20,417.18 which means over 2000 bed nets for the cause.

Entering the final week of the competition Vice Principal Elizabeth Foisy says that the bottle drive this past week brought in just over $400 and that they are still receiving individual donations, plus the school is still in the midst of a Toonie challenge.

“We are still currently in third place as second place has moved up to $24, 000,” she notes.

Every day, malaria claims the lives of 3,000 African children under the age of five – over one million every year and SJSH students joined the country-wide student challenge earlier this year to do their part to help.

Spread the Net is a grassroots campaign which aims to prevent the spread of malaria among African children by raising funds to purchase bed nets. The effort was Co-founded by Rick Mercer and Belinda Stronach following their visit to Africa in 2005 and in partnership with UNICEF Spread the Net is attempting to raise enough funds to purchase 500,000 anti-malarial mosquito bed nets at $10 each by June 2009.

Rick Mercer will personally visit the top finishing school. His visit to the winning school will be featured on his nationally televised show, The Rick Mercer Report on CBC and SJSH wants to be that school.

The community can help SJSH students move into first place by making a donation at the school’s front office or by visiting http://www.npsc.edu.on.ca/sjsh/news/stn.htm and clicking “donate now”.

All funds must be raised by the end of February 2009 and submitted to Spread the Net by March 1, 2009.

1 net. 10 bucks. Save lives.