By Meghan Streit
THE ERICKSON TRIBUNE

Chicago Fire soccer player Diego Gutierrez recently paid a visit to Sedgebrook to talk about the importance of nets—not the ones he kicks balls into to score points for his team, but the ones that protect African families from deadly malaria-carrying mosquitoes.

The Colombian-born midfielder and his wife Ginna are major fundraisers for Nothing But Nets, an organization that buys and distributes insecticide-treated bed nets to people in Africa.

The nets cost only $10 each, but their value in Africa, where 3,000 children die of malaria every day, is priceless.

“A bed net is a commodity in Africa,” Gutierrez says.

The nets last up to five years and go a long way in preventing the spread of the deadly disease. Gutierrez delivered 3 million life-saving bed nets on a recent trip to Mali and was invited to the White House by President Bush to speak about malaria.

“It’s outstanding what we’re trying to do and astonishing the effect we can have on the world,” Gutierrez says.

Back in the United States, Gutierrez visits places like Sedgebrook to help spread the word about malaria and to encourage people to get involved in Nothing But Nets’ fight against the disease.

For more information, visit www.nothingbutnets.net.