Patrick Leahy: “earlier this year, the widely read, widely respected Sports Illustrated columnist Rick Reilly launched his Nothing But…”

“earlier this year, the widely read, widely respected Sports Illustrated columnist Rick Reilly launched his Nothing But Nets campaign after learning that thousands of Africans--including about 3000 children--die each day from malaria and that simple mosquito netting could save many of these lives. When I saw recently that his readers had kicked in more than $1.2 million for this effort--enough to buy 150,000 nets--I had to give that dollar total a double-take before it sunk in. His campaign has collected enough to buy thousands and thousands of nets, enough to save thousands and thousands of lives. Those nets, distributed by the United Nations Foundation and the World Health Organization, already are accomplishing that. What Rick Reilly's crusade shows is that if you give Americans a clear and worthy goal, just about anything is possible. Government and private relief agencies should be taking notes--and a lesson--from Rick Reilly. There are so many other devastating diseases that we could control or even conquer, if we summon the will.”