Bookstore bracelets

Last week we received our first consignment check from Poor Richard's bookstore (for $120). How exciting! Today we will give our buyer at Poor Richard's more bracelets for the next month, and we hope to begin working with our college's bookstore soon as well.

We set the lofty but not wholly unrealistic fundraising goal of 1500 nets to reflect Roll Back Malaria's goal of universal coverage by December 31, 2010. "Universal coverage" essentially means that:

1. There will be one LLIN for every two people
2. Houses will be routinely sprayed with indoor residual spraying
3. Pregnant women in "high transmission settings" will receive antimalarials during the pregnancy to prevent maternal anemia and low birth weight in the child.
4. People who fall ill will be promptly diagnosed and treated with appropriate antimalarial drugs

This means that if all goes well, we will be out of business precisely at the end of this year.

A few weeks ago we had our first CC Bracelet Bash. We made pasta salad, cucumber-dill sandwiches and vats of delicious tea. About a dozen people came between 3 and 8pm (not the whole time but dropped in and out) and made some beautiful bracelets. Diagonal stripe seems like a good one to start out with. "S" is pretty good but can take a couple tries to get the tension right on both sides. As people come to subsequent Bracelet Bashes we will teach them more complex knottiness. We're planning one at CC for first Saturday of next block, so we'll see you then!

-Hana

P.S. Email us if you would like marketing advice/materials (we have a sign you can print out), would like to contribute bracelets/raised funds to the cause, or have any other questions.