DODGE MALARIA! GUIDEBOOK IS HERE

IT’S HERE!!!!

He's excited, too!

As detailed in the post “Exciting News!” the guidebook I began working on this past summer is completed and ready for your perusal/highlighting/flipping/enjoyment.

Check out the official Dodge Malaria! guidebook below:

Dodge Malaria-2

Comments are appreciated! By the way, you might find yourself in it!

Feel free to distribute in any way, just as long as you inform me beforehand so I can know if any potential Dodge Malaria!-er might want any additional information. Gracias.

Dodgeball Tournament Registration Information

Mu Alpha Theta is hosting a dodge ball tournament with all proceeds benefiting Malaria No More.  A non-profit, non-governmental organization, Malaria No More is determined to see malaria deaths eradicated by 2015. Malaria causes more than one million deaths each year and kills more African children than any other disease. Yet, malaria CAN be fought. Malaria No More supplies simple tools (such as mosquito nets, spraying, and medicine) to accomplish the ultimate objective: make malaria no more. The dodge ball tournament will take place February 22^nd -24^th, 2010, after school in the gym. We are inviting any scholastic club to form a team and help make malaria NO MORE!

How to register:  The registration fee is $100 per team ($10 per team member). Please pay with cash, money order, or check (payable to Malaria No More, memo: [Event Name]). **We only have space for 8 teams to compete, so don’t wait to register! ** Turn in form to Mr. Snow in room 216 before school by Friday, December 18^th, 2009. Registration fee will be due after Winter Break on Tuesday, January 19^th, 2010.

Once Registered: Teams are encouraged to create uniforms for the event,  generate a team name that relates to Malaria No More, and form ‘cheerleading squads’ for the day of the event

If you need a registration form, e-mail  araparikh@yahoo.com.

Dodgeball with Math? YES!

I forgive myself completely for calling myself a math nerd.  I am one so I might as well embrace it!  But to think a mathematical honor society would be so enthusiastically responsive to a dodgeball tournament alludes me.  Then again, why not take the anguish over ridonkulous functions and differential calculus and channel it at another person?  Violence isn’t the answer, guys! But dodgeball just might be for malaria.  Our Mu Alpha Theta Club at our high school will be hosting a dodgeball tournament to raise awareness and funds for the fight against malaria!

For some details, my friend Abbey helped brainstorm and came up with wonderful ideas.   I figured I’d give you her exact words:

For the dodgeball tournament, we could have the teams sign-up to compete and do it in brackets like March Madness.They can have cool team names and be encouraged to make uniforms and have fan clubs. It could be a week-long event where the beginning rounds are held M-W and advertise the final match on Thursday and have finals on Friday. The finals could be a major event where we could sell refreshments and make t-shirts of the final teams to sell and get the audience all hyped up. We can make a cool final prize for the winning team. We could try to get them gift cards to somewhere, or ask Formoso/Marlow if the school could give them yearbooks half-off or something along those lines. We can talk to the gym teachers to see if they would advertise the event during class and make a cool video to show on the announcements. There is plenty of stuff we can volunteer to work on, from advertising to logistics to running the events. I don’t know when you could have the matches, though. You would definitely want to organize that with Formoso, as far as having the smaller matches after school and then the final match durinng 4th block. If there are scheduling problems with the gym after school, we can stretch out the beginning matches over a few weeks and have the final one at the end. And waivers definitely are a good idea.

 

Sounds like a plan to me!  I’ll update once we get it formally approved.  Until then, comment with your suggestions!

*Regarding the safety issues: we will be sending participants a permission form for their parents to sign.  The rules will be stringent so no injuries will happen.  We’ll be playing on wrestling mats to protect our school’s new gym and well, to protect ourselves! Those mosquitoes are going to be the ones who’ll need protecting though…

A side note: Abbey will be performing her International Thriller dance (I’m in it, too!) at the championship half-time “show.”  Yes, the Michael Jackson one!!  The dance showcases Thriller in Chinese, Indian, and Hispanic forms of dance- all with a storyline that’s sure to “thrill!”

The Upcoming School Year

The last school year (as the first post mentions) really focused on fundraising (but it definitely dipped into awareness).  What this upcoming school year will entail is: AN EVENT!  A talent show-type of event that emphasizes education on malaria and its potential for eradication and prevention through the use of bed nets.  Money will be raised too ($10 a ticket which covers the cost of one net), but most importantly, everyone will come together (with their diverse talents) to help fight malaria.  Oh and by the way, I’m aiming for it to be in December.  February/March is FCAT and April and May are IB/AP exams, which means craziness! Also, the UF kids will be down to lend some support!  This is, of course, tentative.  What do you think?  Do you have suggestions to make it better?

Abbey, I’m already dreaming about the rap versions you might do, or maybe a Thriller performance. 

Sydney, an Ave Maria 2.0 would be stellar!

Megan, no one can go without seeing you in that Irish costume again!

Sorry to call you out, guys (you don’t have to do these things, I’m just trying to form a bit of the substance of this show by brainstorming)

ALSO:  along with the show, I thought we could have a contest for its publicity.  While Google searching I found this:

We could hold a contest to see whose poster is the best (the above is an example and I might be able to find a way to give a prize other than bragging rights and prestige) and use it as the sort of an Official Poster of the event.  It’s an idea at least, but I think it would really turn out cool.  The winning poster would be everywhere (meaning the I.B. Hallway) Leave your comments to let me know whether you would be interested in showcasing your talent and/or participating in the poster contest.  Thanks!

Firehouse Subs

The owner of three Firehouse Subs locations, Sanjay (a HUGE thanks by the way) has been so incredibly wonderful and offered to allow Malaria No More collection boxes to be placed into his locations.  If you see the boxes while there, make sure to donate your change!  And, tell people to go to Firehouse Subs!  Yum!

www.firehousesubs.com

The Past (School) Year

 As it says in the About section, I first started to become aware of Malaria No More after I read The End of Poverty by Jeffrey Sachs (thanks to Ellen for telling me about this book!).  A TIME Magazine Cover Story also spoke about poverty (and I’m assuming malaria) with an excerpt from the book.  This was way back in good ole’ 2005. 

You can find the article at: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1034738,00

March 15, 2005 Cover Story

 I really tried to focus on the fundraising aspect (a little different from this year’s awareness approach).  So, I collected from a variety of outlets, outlined through pictures and notes in no specific order, shown below:  

Well, this first one did actually happen first! (And what a start it was!)

INDIAN PHYSICIANS OF FLORIDA (IPOF)

(I became -a little too- happy when I counted the money.  Money DOES equal happiness- when it’s saving lives!)

I wrote a letter to IPOF asking whether they would pledge a donation (after using some pathos and ethos).  They pledged $1,000 and invited me to speak at their banquet.  A little nerve-racking but so worth it.  Doree, Raj, and I went around the dinner tables after with our ubiquitous (and now very frayed) collection box and totalled some $400 in cash donations!  I hope to post the video of my speech sometime soon. 

 TEMPLE BOOTH

 

 

Generous Donors!

 

I set up a booth at the Swaminarayan Temple to collect money and spread awareness.  The blue net really drew some eyes.  Thanks to Zarna, Gopi, and Neeti for their help!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

FESTIVALS

Our booth and its stellar helpers!

 

 

 

 

At two festivals, we set up a booth for the day to donate and speak to people who were interested as they walked by.  I thought it would be great to lure in kids (and their cash-carrying/decent attention spanned parents) with a basketball hoop and a game with prizes.  Investing in these was a great idea.  Another tactic was playing around with the net- it is big and blue (and sort of an eye-sore) so a lot of heads were turned, which worked very well with our sign that calculated how many children had died since the beginning of the festival (using the statistic: A child dies every 30 seconds from malaria-scary isn’t it?).  Thanks to: Raj, Feriha, Kulsoom, Neeti, Krish, and Joey!

Here’s another picture of our booth (it’s a little small-sorry!):

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

BAKE SALE

 

Red Velvet-Yummy!

 

Can you make out the crossed out M (no to malaria!) and the MNM for Malaria No More?

I made some cupcakes (red velvet- the best kind) and sold them to my friends and teachers.  I made some $5 BUT it has set the precedent for future bake sales to come.  Maria and Joey, the kitchen’s yours! Also, a thanks to Alexandra for the idea while she worked her batter magic for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights Aids. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

JOURNALISM FUNDRAISER

So, I made a little collection jug out of a milk gallon to collect change and spare cash from the convention-goers for journalism that took place at my school.  Since only mainly change was collected, about $8 was collected (still 8/10 of  a bed net!)

 

MALARIA NO MORE PHOTOGRAPHY SHOW BENEFIT

My awesome friends Ashling and Joey joined together for a school project to put together a photography show benefit.  With some unbiased prodding from me, they decided to choose Malaria No More as the beneficiary charity.  From the show (with BEAUTIFUL PICTURES of Ireland, Deerfield Beach, etc), admission and sales of the photos raised $76!  I’m planning on posting some of the pictures in a future post.  

AND THAT’S JUST SOME OF THE ACTIVITIES WE PUT TOGETHER.  I also: formed a Malaria No More Committee,  stayed in contact with the Malaria No More headquarters in New York, almost made an MTV cut (future post), ETC!  Well, maybe, but this coming school year we’re getting bigger and badder (not really the badder part) because I’ve got a team that’s gonna scare those net manufacturers off with our fundraising and awareness expertise.  Tune in for more and leave your comments!