Courtney and Tyler Bell know that $10 can go a long way in other parts of the world.
Four years ago, Courtney, now a sixth-grader at Rosa Middle School, watched a video her family received in the mail about the devastating effects malaria has on many living in Africa.
“I saw it and thought, ‘this is horrible.’ I wanted to do something about it,” Courtney said.
The family brainstormed ways they could raise money to help those living in malaria-prone regions of Africa and came up with the idea of Scare for Nets, a Halloween haunted trail in their backyard.
For four years now, friends, relatives, teachers and neighbors have come to be spooked along the haunted trail prior to Halloween.
Visitors are encouraged to make a donation, which the Bells send to Nothing but Nets, a nonprofit organization that provides insecticide-treated bed nets. One net costs $10.
The nets, which can safely protect a family for about three years, prevent the disease-carrying insects from biting. Many of the nets, Courtney said, are sent to those living in villages and rural regions of Africa.
In Africa, a child dies of malaria every 45 seconds and it kills nearly one million people per year, Courtney said.
Last year, the family raised $800 to provide bed nets. In total, their fundraising efforts have yielded about 400 nets over the past four years, Courtney said.
This year, Courtney, Tyler, their older sister, mom and dad all pitched in to make the haunted trail possible. Unfortunately, Mother Nature wasn’t exactly on their side.
The trail frightened 100 or so guests on Friday, Oct. 28, said Tyler, a freshman at Cherry Hill East.
But the preseason snowstorm on Saturday forced the trail’s ghouls and goblins to take the night off. The Bells raised about $550 in donations so far to send to the organization.
The family said they plan to continue the Halloween tradition for years to come. Courtney said she also plans on making bracelets to give out at school in the hopes her friends will donate to Nothing but Nets.
Tyler also pitches in where he can. This year, he distributed flyers at East, letting his peers know about who and why his family continues to raise money for the organization.
The family also invited hundreds of friends and classmates on Facebook, created posters and placed them along Route 70.
“It’s something not a lot of people know about. It’s just not good. A lot of people are suffering,” Tyler said. “The more awareness of malaria, the better.”
He said since many of his friends have never heard of the organization, he enjoys the opportunity to explain what life is like for the people that receive the nets.
Courtney said she thinks about kids her age halfway across the world who are receiving the nets and is happy to be able to provide the support.
“There’s kids my age here and they don’t have to go through that,” Courtney said.
For more information on the Nothing but Nets organization, visit www.nothingbutnets.net. To donate, visit http://www.globalproblems-globalsolutions.org/site/TR?px=1410735&pg=personal&fr_id=1040&s_tafId=1890.
