Thank you, and keep up the good work!

September 8, 2014

When you first heard we were trying to raise $1.2 million in the Rocky Mountain Conference to help end deaths from malaria in Africa, did you think we would make it?

At Annual Conference in June, the Steering Committee reported that not only did we achieve our goal, we surpassed it, with gifts and pledges totaling $1,414,000! And since then, we have received another $75,000 in goals and contributions, bringing our total commitments to $1.489 million as of July 31!

If that's not exciting enough, here are some more details on the work that has made this possible:

Members from 203 different churches made a contribution. Eight more have set goals, but haven't yet sent in their funds. That means 81% of Rocky Mountain Conference churches participated in this extraordinary effort!

Specifically:

• Wyoming churches collectively raised $26.30 raised per member
• Newcastle First (Wyoming)  raised $4,985 - that's $22 per member
• Grace (Cheyenne) raised $3,833 - that's $26 per member
• Yuma (CO) set a goal for $100 and raised $998
• Steamboat Springs exceeded their $8,000 goal and raised $13,967 - that's $34 per member!
• Ogden Community raised $5,724 - that's $24 per member!
• Montrose First (CO) is still working toward their $20,000 goal, but they have raised $31 per member - so far.
• Limon (CO) raised $78 per member by raising $20,046.
• Rush (CO)  did not set a goal, but raised $88 per member
• Last Chance (CO) raised $24 per member
• Hope (Greenwood Village) raised $15,375, or $23 per member
• Heritage (Littleton) raised $8,236, or $28 per member
• Colorado Springs First raised $50,700
• Trinity Denver has raised $110,330 - so far - they are still working toward their goal of $123 per member!
• St. Andrew's (Highlands Ranch) has raised $20,964 and are still working to achieve their $24 per member goal.
• St. Luke's (Highlands Ranch) raised $26,099!
• Arvada is 20% of the way to reaching their $33 per member goal
• Good Shepherd (Thornton) raised $25 per member
• Glenwood Springs raised $22 per member
• Mountain View and St. Paul's (both in Boulder) raised $8,615 and $3,618 respectively - even though they were dealing with flood waters and a community in crisis. Perhaps they know a thing or two about mosquitoes!

Communication Changes

In the interest of saving administrative expenses for the campaign, the Steering Committee has decided to discontinue our email newsletter account. Updates will still be sent out periodically through the Rocky Mountain Conference weekly e-newsletter; you can sign up for that list here. If you do nothing, you will not receive any further communications from us, except for updates on your individual giving from the Rocky Mountain United Methodist Foundation, which continues to manage the donation tracking.

A Few Reminders

If your church has collected funds that you haven't sent in yet, please send those in on a monthly basis - the easiest way is to include donations with your monthly remittances to the Conference office, designated for Imagine No Malaria.

If your church set a goal that you haven't achieved yet, please continue working towards your goal! If you need to adjust your goal, contact Kristi Kinnison, kristi@rmumf.org. 

If you have questions or updates, see whom to contact going forward.

Please continue to pray for Imagine No Malaria, for all who suffer and all who are helping to end unnecessary suffering.

Finally, thank you to all of you who have taken part in any role as part of the network of advocates, ambassadors, fundraisers, educators, donors, and healers in this extraordinary effort to end deaths from malaria in Africa. You may have seen this article from United Methodist Communications:

Efforts to fight Malaria are also good for the communications and medical infrastructure to fight Ebola. According to the article, "Your gifts to Imagine No Malaria are also helping in the fight against Ebola because together, we’ve improved access to health care. A strong health infrastructure, consisting of trained health care workers and well-equipped facilities, is better able to handle other health threats as well." We know that although the article didn't mention this, the publicity, education and communication networks that have been developed about Malaria are the same networks being used to educate people about Ebola.

Together, we are saving and transforming lives!

Conference Planning Season

The Mission Banquet focusing on Imagine No Malaria at
Rocky Mountain Annual Conference 2013

It's still winter outside, but annual conference planning season is well underway. You have probably already heard that this year's session for Rocky Mountain Conference will take place in Pueblo, part of our effort to rotate among the districts every few years. Many clergy and lay members have to travel long distances every year because the Metro area is hundreds of miles from where they live and serve, so once in a while it's only fair that the Metro (and other Front Range Colorado) members travel to see other parts of our region as well.

When choosing a site for annual conference, the staff and other conference leaders take into account travel options, meeting space, hotel availability, and other logistics. But in Mozambique, it turns out they have to take malaria into account as well. Jill Wondel, one of the Field Coordinators for Imagine No Malaria in the Missouri Annual Conference, shares a story that puts things into perspective:

When I was sharing my story with our district superintendent, Kendall Waller, he told me his own story about malaria. He recently visited Mozambique, I think it was this spring, and was with one of the leaders of the church there.

They were visiting the northern part of the country and the man mentioned to Kendall that when they were planning for their annual meetings, their Annual Conference, they originally thought about holding the meeting in that area.

But because the prevalence of malaria is greater in the north, they decided to move the conference further south. They determined that if they held the conference in the north for one week that they would lose 70 people to malaria.

70 people.

They had to decide where to hold their conference not based on available hotels or the size of the conference center, but on how many people they thought would die in the week they were there.

Malaria is a powerful enemy. But we have an opportunity to change that.

What are you going to do with that opportunity?