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What is the fast-a-thon?

Thomas Jefferson High School’s Muslim Student Association has organized the 3rd Annual Ramadan Fast-a-thon, an event that hopes to raise as much money as possible in a single day for the Measles Initiative. Here’s how it works:

We collect pledges from area businesses and individuals who pledge to donate a couple dollars for every student or faculty member who agrees to fast during the daylight hours of April 4th, 2008. Each business will sign a pledge sheet, agreeing to write a check, which will be forwarded to the Measles Initiative through the American Red Cross.

Through announcements, flyers, and other means of communication, we will ask as many Fairfax County Public High School students and faculty as we can to go hungry for one day so we can benefit those who are impoverished elsewhere in the world. Participants will sign up, receive instructions on how to fast, and on April 4th, abstain from all food and drink during the daylight hours. At the end of the day, fasting students and faculty will be invited to break their fast in Thomas Jefferson’s own cafeteria. Our goal is to convince as many students and faculty as possible to fast and to raise as much money as possible for the Measles Initiative.

We will count the number of pledges and divide the amount to be collected evenly among the participating businesses. We will then collect the checks from each business and individual and directly forward the proceeds.

The Fast-a-Thon is a national program established to teach non-Muslims about the requirement of fasting during Ramadan and to raise money for charities. The actual fasting occurs on only one day, and at the end the iftar dinner is held for everybody to break their fast together. By enlisting the sponsorship of several companies, money will be raised to benefit a charity or organization so we can help do our part in helping others around the world who are not as fortunate as we are. In our Fast-a-Thon, we will donate money to the Measles Initiative through the American Red Cross. By having a Fast-a-Thon, we hope to not only teach others more about Islam, but to also help those who are truly in need.

Two years ago, 142 students fasted with us in our 1st annual Fast-a-Thon. We raised almost $2000, which we donated to our school’s Katrina effort, the most a single club raised for the relief fund. Last year, 243 students and faculty fasted, raising a total of $3021 for the Save the Darfur Coalition.

What do you have to do?

1) Sign up on this website.
2) Get the word out—tell all your friends to fast with you. The only restriction is that they must be a Fairfax County Public High School student or faculty member.
3) Refrain from food and drink during the daylight hours of April 4th
4) Join us during lunch on the 5th in room *we’ll see* if you can’t take the pressure of watching everybody around you eat [optional]. *more info on what we’re doing there later*
5) Join us for the iftar dinner (fast-breaking) after school [optional].

What’s in it for you?

1) The opportunity to give back to your community
2) A chance to go hungry for a day so you can help impoverished children around the world
3) The opportunity to fast along with hundreds of students (and hopefully faculty) around you and across the county for one cause
3) A free t-shirt
4) Free food at the end of the day

Sponsors

Here’s how sponsorships work. You don’t have to do anything; we’ll take care of it all. But if you’re interested on how we’re going to get money from doing this, here’s your chance to find out. We collect pledges from area businesses and individuals who promise to donate a couple dollars for every student or faculty member who agrees to fast during the daylight hours of April 4th, 2008. Each business will sign a pledge sheet, agreeing to write a check, which will be forwarded to the Measles Initiative through the American Red Cross. The event itself also costs money, so we will also find event sponsors who give us flat donations so we can host this. If we do receive more flat donations than we need to cover the event, all remaining money will be donated along with the rest since we do not profit from hosting this event. We will also find food sponsors for the iftar dinner so we can minimize costs spent on buying food. One more type of sponsor we will find, if possible, is the T-shirt sponsor, who can give us free or discounted T-shirts so that you don’t have to pay anything for them. How can you help? If you feel you really want to help out in finding sponsors, feel free to go to the contact tab and alert us about your sponsor-hunting. We’ll get in contact with you so that we can get all the necessary information from the prospective sponsors.

Iftar Dinner

Join us on Friday, April 4th from 6:46 P.M. - 7:30 P.M. in the TJHS cafeteria. Come earlier if you’d like to just hang out with your friends. If you’d like to go to our home football game afterwards, feel free to leave at 7:30 P.M. Otherwise, stay and eat more for as long as you’d like.

The Measles Initiative

Each year a disease that has virtually been eliminated in the Western Hemisphere kills nearly 345,000 people globally, and of those, most are children under the age of five. Measles is a leading vaccine-preventable childhood killer and millions of children still remain at risk. There is good news. Measles can be prevented with a simple vaccination that costs less than one dollar per child. From 1999-2005, measles deaths in Africa dropped by 75%, from 506,000 to 126,000, largely due to the support provided by the Measles Initiative and the commitment of African governments.

The Measles Initiative, launched in 2001, is a long-term commitment and partnership among leaders in public health and supports the goal of reducing measles deaths globally by 90% by 2010 compared to 2000 estimates. In 2007, for the first time, the Measles Initiative will support vaccination campaigns in each of the six WHO regions of the world.

Largely due to the technical and financial support of the Measles Initiative and the commitment from African governments, 217 million children have been vaccinated against measles and 1.2 million lives have been saved since 1999. Building on this achievement, in 2005, the Initiative has expanded its technical and financial support to countries in Asia, where total measles deaths are highest outside of sub-Saharan Africa. The Initiative will also continue the successful ‘integrated child health campaigns’ in which health workers provide not only measles vaccines, but also insecticide-treated nets for malaria prevention, vitamin A, de-worming medication and polio vaccines.

Since 2001, the Measles Initiative has mobilized more than $200 million and supported more than 40 African countries and three Asian countries in implementing high-quality measles vaccination campaigns. As a result, global measles deaths have dropped by 48% from 871,000 in 1999 to an estimated 454,000 in 2004 thanks to improvements in routing and supplementary immunization activities. The largest reduction occurred in Africa, the region with the highest burden of the disease, where estimated measles cases and deaths dropped by 60%.

GOAL
To reduce measles deaths globally by 90% by 2010 compared to 2000 estimates

STRATEGY
Support country efforts to carry out vaccination campaigns and routine immunization.

HOW THE INITIATIVE IS STRUCTURED
The mechanism for the Initiative is an American Red Cross-led partnership with operational support to measles burdened countries. The Initiative has adopted the highly successful Rotary-led global polio eradication initiative as a model. Rotary's strategy was two-fold: repeated vaccination campaigns reinforced by routine vaccination. The Initiative employs a similar approach - initial mass catch-up campaigns to vaccinate every child who may be at risk with follow-up campaigns three to four years later to vaccinate children who have been born sine the catch-up campaign.

PARTNERS
American Red Cross
United Nations Foundation (UN Foundation)
United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
World Health Organization (WHO)
United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF)


IMPACT
For as little as US $1, one child can be vaccinated against measles. As of 2005, 217 million children received measles vaccinations, resulting in 1.2 million lives saved.

BACKGROUND OF INITIATIVE
In February of 2001, American Red Cross convened a meeting with other global healthcare organizations. American Red Cross, CDC, UNICEF, UN Foundation, and WHO met to discuss the growing problem of measles in Africa. The organizations looked at problems that afflict the world and found that measles was a big one. What is so tragic about these deaths is that they are preventable.

In the battle to reduce mortality from measles, partnership is crucial because each player brings a different strength and talent to bear. WHO designs the policies and health guidelines for each country to ensure proper, safe steps are taken during immunization campaigns. UNICEF is the only organization allowed to import the vaccine into most developing countries and has a sophisticated logistics capacity as well as great stature in the country. CDC provides funding and the technical and scientific basis for the policies and advises countries on program planning. The UN Foundation provides a substantial amount of funding as well as the financial mechanisms necessary to move funds between agencies and to countries. American Red Cross provides funding and has the network of Red Cross societies around the world and the volunteers to do social mobilization, ensuring each child has a chance to be vaccinated.

"We are allowing thousands of children to die," said a Ugandan UNICEF official at a briefing in Kampala. "Immunization is the right of every child."

"UNICEF cannot do this alone. It is something no one agency can do alone," says Dr. Iyor Kimun Uhaa, head of early childhood care and development for UNICEF in Uganda. "We have done everything right - getting the vaccine here, etc. What we have failed to do is work at the grass roots level to reach mothers. When I went to Mbarara district, I saw so many mothers - I saw Red Cross mobilizing - saw Red Cross everywhere. I saw firsthand the value of partnership," Dr. Uhaa continued.

"It is unacceptable for so many children to die of a disease that is so easy to prevent," said Dr. Edward Hoekstra, senior advisor on measles for UNICEF. "Our key partners have been crucial in reducing mortality in Africa."

Taken directly from www.measlesinitiative.org.