Malaria No More UK Celebrity-led Skydive
Celebrity divers Sam Fox, Stuart Manning and Jimmy White, supported by Kim Woodburn, championed the Malaria No More UK skydive in April 2010 which raised an estimated £25K to help saves lives from malaria in Africa. The celebrities were joined by courageous staff from organisations including News International, Jazz FM, Tony Blair Faith Foundation, Premier Christian Radio, CH&I and the Yirrell family.
Sam Fox first came up with the idea of the dive, on hearing the news about funds raised, Sam said:
“I loved every minute of the dive, it was an incredible sensation and the minute I landed I wanted to do it all over again! I’m thrilled to hear we raised £25K for Africa and thanks to everyone who sponsored me and to my fellow celebrity divers for their support. I’m already thinking about my next daredevil idea for Malaria No More UK so we can keep up the momentum for this hugely important cause”.
Stuart Manning trained to do a solo dive which he did for the first time – swiftly followed by two more dives! Stuart commented:
“It was an awesome day! I had a serious amount of fun and am so happy to hear we all raised enough money for Malaria No More UK to buy and distribute mosquito nets to protect 10,000 people in Ghana from catching malaria. What a result! As far as the dive goes, I’d never done anything like it and now I’ve started it’s kind of hard to stop! Thanks to Malaria No More for a great day that will make a real difference to so many families in Ghana.”
Celebrity diver Jimmy White added:
“It was great to see Sam and the gang again although I found myself slightly less enthusiastic as the plane rose to 13,000 feet! I’m so pleased I did the dive, it was a fantastic experience and made all the better knowing the day raised sufficient funds to help make sure at least another 5000 mosquito nets are brought and distributed to families in Africa. Thanks to everyone for supporting me in this important project to help make malaria no more”.
Kim Woodburn cheered on her fellow celebrities as they touched down from their dives. Kim said:
“A disease like malaria that’s preventable and treatable should not affect so many people in this day and age. When I think of all the children that are affected is a stark reminder of the importance of the work of charities like Malaria No More UK. I was so proud to see Sam, Jimmy and Stuart do their dives and well done to them and all the divers for their efforts in making malaria no more”.
Sarah Kline, Executive Director of Malaria No More UK dived alongside Sam Fox and said:
“This was our first challenge event and we’re thrilled with the results. Thanks to everyone who took to the skies to help make malaria no more, we’ve seen some fantastic effort put in. I visited Ghana last month, it’s a country where malaria is the number one cause of all illness. Our funding is going to make a massive difference, saving lives and protecting families from malaria for years to come”.
The £25K raised will be invested in the same project as the funds from I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! 2009. The project enabled crucial education programmes to ensure proper usage of nearly one million mosquito bed nets which were distributed to 600,000 families in Ghana in 2010. Funds raised by the skydivers will build on this work by helping to fund the next big distribution.
