Monday, February 2, 2009

Quick Responses and Warm Bodies

I'm helping to organize some malaria awareness events on campus this quarter and the next, and I had the bright idea to find a real anti-malarial anti-mosquito bednet. Not having any idea where I might find such a thing, I contacted my point-person at the Tony Blair Faith Foundation, who promptly beeped someone at Malaria No More.

When I walked into my apartment this evening, there was a strangely-shaped package waiting for me. It was from the kind folks at Malaria No More. It has been exactly 4.5 days since I inquired as to where I might find a bednet. Note: It is Monday right now.

The package contained not only a real-life anti-malarial bednet (to use in demonstrations on campus), but also a full press/marketing package: postcards, toolkits, promotional materials, sample PRs and sign-ups, and a whole lot more. There was even a copy of last year's annual report.

What a fantastic experience. It's not like Malaria No More is working overtime to keep me as a "customer;" they lose nothing if I look for bednets elsewhere. They aren't counting on me to write a lengthy blog post about how nice they are. They saw a need, a resource gap, and they rushed to fill it, not for personal gain, but to inspire and support an activist who wants to make a difference. I now have far greater capacity to plan for our upcoming events, and I know that I can count on these people.

Awesome.

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4 comments:

Lucinda said...

Yay for them.
And yay for you, too.

:)
LUcinda

abc123.com said...

We're going to follow you here Tim, keep up the good work. It's nice to see someone working on what matters. Thanks again!

joeyshapiro said...

The folks at Malaria No More are awesome. I am not surprised at all. I have a tote bag and bed net sitting next to my desk,

Tim Brauhn said...

Lucinda - keep up the good work. Yay for you as well.

ABC - You know what I think about your website - it's awesome. I'll be checking you out.

Joey - A tote bag! Holy buckets! I should email them again. A tote bag would be awesome if I didn't already have 400 of the darn things. Anywho, we'll see what's what on campus with planning and whothewhatsit.