President Bush speaks in the gym at the Northwest Boys and Girls Club, flanked by former UConn basketball players and officials from the club. Photo by WTIC's Matt Dwyer.
SOUTH KENT, Conn. (AP) _ President Bush's helicopter landed practically at the doorstep of former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger's estate on Friday, bringing the president to help raise money for GOP congressional candidate David Cappiello.
About 400 people attended the $1,000-a-person fundraiser, where for $10,000 attendees got their picture taken with the president.
An official for Cappiello's campaign said more than $750,000 was raised for the state senator from Danbury. The money will help fund his campaign to unseat Rep. Christopher Murphy, a first-term Democrat. Some of the proceeds also will go to the Republican party in Connecticut.
Bush earlier visited the Northwest Boys and Girls Club in Hartford to highlight the club's efforts to fight malaria.
The organization, which began in Hartford, has raised about $25,000 to buy more than 2,500 bed nets for families in Africa. More than 150 of these clubs have joined the campaign to raise funds and spread awareness about malaria.
With bake sales, car washes and school dances, Bush said U.S. citizens are responding to the worldwide battle to fight malaria. The disease kills more than 1 million infants and children under the age of five each year in sub-Saharan Africa.
In 2005, Bush launched an initiative to combat malaria in the hardest-hit nations in Africa. The initiative is spending $1.2 billion over five years to reduce malaria deaths by 50 percent in 15 African countries.
``In just two years, the initiative has helped provide bed nets and anti-malarial medicine, insecticide sprays and prenatal drugs to an estimated 25 million people in sub-Sahara Africa,'' Bush said. ``Behind these numbers are whole communities looking to the future with renewed hope.''
