Gutierrez lends a hand to a worthy cause

If you could save someone’s life for $10, wouldn’t you?

Chicago Fire midfielder Diego Gutierrez is posing this question to almost everyone he comes in contact with these days as a national spokesperson for Nothing but Nets, a United Nations Foundation campaign that works to provide mosquito nets to families in Africa. It costs the organization $10 to purchase, distribute and teach families how to use the nets.

“For most people in this country, $10 is not a lot of money, and for $10 you’re able to save a family of people from dying of malaria,” Gutierrez said. “To me, that’s huge.”

The groundwork for Gutierrez’s involvement was laid in December ’06 after a family friend asked the 12-year league veteran why U.S. professional soccer wasn’t involved in the campaign to fight malaria and told him about the efforts of Nothing but Nets and its partner organization, Malaria No More.

Gutierrez did not have an answer, and he didn’t even know much about malaria, for that matter. However, his friend’s inquiry stuck with him, and the player did some research on the disease. What he read disturbed him and moved him to act.

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