The 2009/10 Spread the Net Student Challenge is officially over and we would like to thank ALL of the schools, students, teachers and faculty who supported the campaign. While the final numbers are still being tallied, we can tell you that 129 high schools and 29 college and university campuses joined together to help in the fight against malaria! Including the total from this year’s challenge, in three years, students have raised over $795,000 contributing enough for nearly 80,000 bed nets. Simply amazing! When you consider that often up to five in family can sleep under one net that represents 400,000 lives protected thanks to the efforts of Canadians students.

The top high school, top college and top university fundraisers were announced on The Rick Mercer Report Tuesday, March 9th., 2010. We are pleased to share that the top fundraising school in the western region is Simon Fraser University (B.C.) with $16,016.03 raised and the top fundraiser in the eastern region is the University of Ottawa with $5,739.20 raised! Great job!

Both schools will be featured on the Tuesday, March 16th, 2010 episode of The Rick Mercer Report on CBC.

Honourable mentions go out to Sir Winston Churchill Secondary School in British Columbia who raised over $3600 as the western runner up and Senator O’Connor College School in Ontario who raised $5300 for the east.

Check out footage featuring the 2008/2009 top fundraisers, John F. Ross Collegiate, Brock University and Port Dover Composite on The Rick Mercer Report!

We will feature a list of all participating schools and how much they have raised on our website in the coming weeks as part of our simple thank you for your all of your great work. Remember, we want to hear about what your school did to raise funds, so please submit your stories and videos to spreadthenet@unicef.ca, or upload them on our Facebook cause, so they can be featured online.

Once again we want to thank all the schools and communities that came forward to create this nationwide movement to fight malaria and save children’s lives in Liberia and Rwanda. Your response, and your dedication, have been inspiring. Congratulations to everyone who stepped up to the Challenge!

We are humbled by the overwhelming response and dedication from the students and want to congratulate them on their achievements.

Stay tuned for more updates!

Remember – 1 Net. 10 Bucks. Save Lives.