Dunk Malaria/Nets for Nets at the University of California, Irvine

Last week on April 20, 2006, at the University of California, Irvine, the Social Science Plaza was transformed into a small sports arena containing both a basketball hoop, some collegiate cheerleaders, a couple Laker Girls, a myriad of staff and faculty and over 500 students, attending very successful awareness/fundraising event for malaria prevention as part of a nationwide effort called Dunk Malaria/Nets for Nets.

The event was generously cosponsored by several campus organizations, Global Connect @ UCI, the Social Sciences Dean’s Ambassador Council and ASUCI and Project Mosquito Net.

The concept of the day was to both raise awareness and funds regarding malaria and the potential life saving effects of providing mosquito bed nets to children in malaria epidemic regions in Africa. The event began around 11 am with the Social Science professors taking a shot in a faculty shoot off. The baseball cap clad, Associate Dean of Social Sciences, Caesar D. Sereseres, participated, taking a few practice shots and then competitively took a few dunks while a KUCI DJ played music in the plaza. A lunchtime spirit pep rally drew in a large crowd of several hundred including the UCI Baseball team, who all volunteered to dunk and were joined by the Laker Girls who volunteered their time to help out this worthy cause. On display was a mosquito bed nets provided to the children Mbita. In the middle of the plaza was placed an outdoor, portable hoop for all who wanted to take a shot. The idea for the day was to have a collective of individuals taking a shot, donating a dollar or two and effectively “dunking malaria” with their actions while at the same raising awareness about this life threatening and devastating disease. All funds collected from the day went to Project Mosquito Net to purchase nets for the 2006 Health Education Day and Mosquito Bed Net distribution. Following the day it was determined by Lance Laifer, the founder of Dunk Malaria that UCI was the international winner of the Dunk Malaria contest.