For Them

It is more than a project. Service benefits real people.

For them take action.

What Can You Do?

• Donate
• Buy jewelry and t-shirts
• Start your own NETwork Against Malaria Chapter
• Have a jewelry drive
• Help NETwork Against Malaria make jewelry
• Shovel snow, water flowers, or rake leaves for donations
• Invite NETwork to talk at your school
• Use our Grade school curriculum to teach your class
• Sell lemonade on your street corner
• Host a beading event
• Organize a bake sale
• Plan a benefit concert
• Collect Office Supplies- Paper, staplers, software, cds, DVDs, cameras, etc.
• Mail us your old cell phones to recycle
• Host a Battle of the Bands
• Set up a tournament
• Customize T-shirts for events in your community
• Have an art show and sell your beautiful work
• Collect Change at your school, church, or sports games
• Organize a competitive penny drive or donation collection
• Sell t-shirts and jewelry
• Design promotional materials
• Write for the newsletter
• Collect pledges for a 5k, marathon, or sports event (i.e. a nickle per basket/ three dollars per mile)
• Give presentations to class mates, churches, youth groups, etc.

Think of your own ideas. Fresh ideas are always welcome. Volunteering is more fun if you personalize it and do what you love.

Have fun with NETwork. Volunteering and saving lives should be things you enjoy!
We Can't Wait to Hear from you: NETworkAgainstMalaria@gmail.com




**Please e-mail NETworkAgainstMalaria@gmail.com for a copy of the curriculum.

Volunteering

As I mentioned before I'm at a children's hospital for senior service and right now I'm home sick. This is the first time I've chosen to stay home sick since I had the stomach flu freshman year. And do you know what the worst part is- I don't want to stay home. Some of my favorite kids are going home today and I don't even get to say goodbye.

Wow. I just totally twisted the purpose of volunteering. I made it about me- what I wanted. I want to say goodbye to these kids. I should be excited out of my mind they're going home(which I am) but I should also be happy that I stayed home and didn't get them sick.

It can be really easy to make volunteering about you- about how you feel. "I feel good when I help someone." "I love to feel like I'm making a difference." "I feel like volunteering has taught me a lot and opened doors."

Yes! These are good things- good feelings. And its fine and normal and healthy to have good feelings and to like good feelings and be motivated by good feelings. Let's face it- these may be some of the best good feelings out there to be motivated by.

BUT I have to keep in mind that volunteering is about putting others first, attempting to fix problems in our communities, and making an impact. THESE things are more important than feelings.

Thanksgiving

Thanks giving is a time to be thankful- for all the wonderful things we have in our lives. It is also a time to reflect on all the things that we can do to improve the lives of others.

As young volunteers, we realize that November is often a time for hunger awarness. Do some research on your community to learn about local hunger issues your community faces.

In my own community, more people are visiting food pantries which has caused them to run low and even run out. I volunteer at a food pantry and have been told stock is high around the holidays, but runs low throughout the rest of the year.

A great cause for you is a random hunger drive for your own community. Call your local food pantry to find out when food runs lowest and when your Non-Holiday Food Drive would be most needed.

Up Coming Opportunities

Looking to get involved?

NETwork has some amazing upcoming opportunities for you to jump on.

1. Come to our 5K this Saturday! Register online at networkagainstmalaria.org. Bring your competitve nature and running shoes or bring your positive attitude and walk the distance. Either way, come out to support NETwork, our volunteer who organized the event, and the children of Uganda.
2. Join us for beading on Sunday. E-mail us if you're interested in this opportunity.
3. Start a chapter! Is there not a chapter in your area or are you looking to start something new? Send NETwork an e-mail and get your start-up kit in the mail!
4. Buy our jewelry. With Christmas just around the corner, you or someone special should be treated with our amazing jewelry.
5. Start NETwork-ing! Volunteer any where any time to get involved. Maybe blogging is even your thing. Send NETwork an e-mail for a more extensive list of up-coming events in your area or to learn how to set some up!
   

Hmph…

Is there ever a day when you really don’t feel like doing anything? Maybe you just took a giant test and you feel like your brain is oozing right out of your ears. Maybe you just had a really tough practice and for some reason TV sounds more soothing than sleep. How about that feeling when you’re sprawled on the coach and you just stare at a bag of chips because you’re so hungry, but moving the extra inch is just a completely inconsiderable feat?

Sadly, yes. I’ve been there and I hope if you’re reading this you’ve been too. I’m not wishing any discomfort on you, believe me but how dumb would I sound if you read this and were like, “Um, no. You are the only person that’s ever desired to underachieve in the history of the world?”

But that feeling never lasts. You snap to at six pm on a Thursday wondering where in the heck three hours of your life went and how you’ll spend the next six.

Sometimes that feeling is a good thing in my opinion. It means you’ve applied yourself so much that you’re completely drained. Who finishes a race with enough breath to chit chat about the medal he or she just won? Look at accomplished athletes and at the end of a race they’re completely spent.

But others… I’ll be honest. Other times, I’m just lazy. But I’ve found laziness has never helped me accomplish anything. I’m not saying relaxation is bad. In fact, I believe relaxation is sometimes necessary, but laziness is one of those things we all sometimes crave, but should try to avoid.

Welcome to the best place to be non-lazy and in my opinion, the best possible goal. Let’s make this world an awesome place.

Everyone has Something to Give

To be poignant a book doesn’t need to be hundreds of pages long. To make an impact, leave an impression, inspire someone a book doesn’t need small print, footnotes, or long words. All a story needs is to have a message, a theme that readers walk away with touched. If you haven’t visited the children’s section of your library or pulled your childhood books of your shelves in a while, I advice you do so. netWORKinProgress’s first book review is about one of these short books that I’ve loved since before I could read.

Everyone out there should read The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein. It’s the story of a tree who befriends a boy and loves the boy so deeply, he is willing to give entirely of himself. The story challenges the limits of love and proves that true friendship knows no bounds. Every friend, every person, every volunteer could take a lesson from the giving tree.

Distribution Day

August 2^nd, 2010. I woke up like any other morning. Showered. Brushed my teeth. Fixed my hair. Checked the mirror and headed off. To anyone else, August 2^nd 2010 would seem pretty darn ordinary but to me and my fellow NETwork supporters, it was the culmination of months of hard work. On August 2^nd 2010, 1,000 nets were distributed deep in the Ugandan bush.

1,000 nets. 1,000 nets that would protect 3,000 lives.

I sat amongst people at a conference who had never heard of NETwork Against Malaria or the village receiving nets. I sat beside them and listened to their conversations. I sat hoping someone would ask what was new so I could scream out what was going on thousands of miles away. And I sat wondering what else was going on in these strangers lives on August 2^nd 2010.

I sat wondering if any of them were having a completely normal day. I wondered if someone had something exciting they were dying to share. I wondered if August 3^rd would be as significant to someone as August 2^nd had been to me.

I suppose, there is no such thing as an ordinary day. It is the start, the end, the tragedy, the celebration, the hope, the despair, the promise for someone, somewhere. I suppose there is nothing so under- marveled than a sunrise and a sunset.

Doubt

Today in class, my teacher asked us to write about the issue of doubt and it hit a chord. It wasn’t because I don’t think this world is going to get better, because I know it will. It wasn’t because I was frustrated or angry, because I love what I do. But doubt is real and constant and everyone experiences it. I realized that I doubted constantly, not my efforts or my major goals, but sometimes I doubt and become frustrated with myself, my failures and what I do along the way. I wasn’t too pleased with myself and I wondered how I could tell anyone to get of their rears and take action when I was doubting.

But then I reliezed that I’ve doubted constantly. I doubted there would be a better time in my life for me to get involve then at this very moment. I doubted that because I was young I couldn’t make a difference. I doubted that some things are set in stone and will never change. I doubted that some people are apathetic. I doubted that I would live a mundane life.

And at the same time I believed. I believed we would change this world together- starting now and from this moment on; that anyone no matter their condition, abilities, or stage in live has a giant contribution to make; that I, like everyone else have only to take a chance to change a life; that all bad things can change; that every person has felt love and desires to feel it again; and that I will be anything but mundane.

(thanks for the picture Flickr!)

Community Service- Just another Way of Doing Time?

So I’d just like to know who decided to scare away so many young volunteers. Really! It’s a sincere question. Which jerk decided that at age eight every child must be subjected to “volunteerism” instead of their usual punishment? Which nonprofit organization decided that most young people should be given the boring meaningless tasks no one else wants? Like really? Licking 400 envelopes for a mass mailing until they have spit and glue all over their clothes and their tongue gets the equivalent of carpal tunnel- Who thought that was a good idea? What about the person who decided every kid should be told the only form of volunteering includes picking up trash along the highway in either 105 degree heat or -2 freezing rain. Even if they chose a nice 78 degree spring day it would be better, but come on! Some kids don’t even volunteer until they get caught stealing or breaking the law. The judge says community service or a $1,500 fine. It’s a bad sign when a kid flips a coin to decide.

But obviously if you’re here, you don’t feel this way. Obviously you know how these cruddy opportunities are the vast minority, how there are countless organizations and causes that really need young people’s help, how much of an impact one person can make. So now what?

You know, but that’s not good enough. Get out there and talk to your friends. Make sure they know how important they are and how much fun volunteering is. Tell them its not just for law breakers, boring high schoolers, or press seeking celebrities. Tell them they can find something they love, somewhere they love, some cause they love. It may take some effort, but hey youth empowerment… it’s kind of worth it.