Nothing But Nets at Ben’s Bar Mitzvah

About a year ago, my dad showed me an article in Sports Illustrated. The title was “Nothing but Nets,” so naturally I assumed it would be an article about basketball. I read the article, and was astounded by what it said. I had heard of malaria, but not that it infects 500 million people per year, or that by donating $10 you can send a net to a family in Africa and prevent them from getting malaria. This article touched me, and when we got home that day we bought a net.

Later in the year, I started my Bar Mitzvah studies. As a Bar Mitzvah, one is supposed to do a mitzvah (good deed) project to help out in the community. I was brainstorming about what to do for my project when I remembered the Nothing but Nets article I read, and thought this would be perfect. So, at my Bar Mitzvah party, I had prepared a PowerPoint presentation to show the guests (with music, and a video….it was pretty snazzy!). I also made a speech, to explain the purpose of this organization. Instead of putting flowers on each table, which we figured would just die in a day, we put miniature mosquito nets and explanatory cards on each table, and encouraged the guests to donate or otherwise get involved. Finally, we donated all the money we would have spent on flowers to buying nets. Overall, this whole experience made me realize the global importance of this problem and this organization’s role in helping.