Algonquin is on track to its third consecutive victory in funds raised for Spread the Net Student Challenge, a feat no other school has accomplished in its nine years of operation.
Participants of the walk-a-thon strode across campus under the veil of an actual bed net gathering donations and selling lollipops and bracelets along the way. Approximately 50 students from the police foundations, event management and community and justice services courses took part in the walk.
The college’s team, the Rick Mercer Malaria Reporters, spent the majority of their day on Feb. 4 touring the campus hallways and raising funds in hopes to end preventable malaria deaths in third-world countries.
“The big thing this walk is good for is it helps encourage awareness while raising donations for the challenge,” said faculty representative Lisa Roots. “It has been so successful in bringing people together from different parts of the school. It’s gotten much bigger than we first anticipated.”
The winner of the initiative will be announced on The Rick Mercer Report in early March.
A donation of $10 to the Student Challenge could afford a family of five in Africa a bed net, keeping them safe from malaria-infected mosquitoes for up to three years. The school’s goal is to raise $10,000 which would surpass the amount garnered during last year’s challenge. Funds raised prior to the event amounted to nearly $3,000.