Rocky Mountain Conference Receives $500,000 Gift Toward Imagine No Malaria

On April 25, World Malaria Day - the date we set as our deadline to raise $1.2 million in commitments for Imagine No Malaria - we announced a very special gift from Jerre and Mary Joy Stead. Their tremendous generosity has allowed us to reach our goal (and then some!) of saving 120,000 lives from malaria through comprehensive prevention, education, treatment, and communication strategies.

Read the full press release here: http://rmcumc.org/new/component/content/article/436.html

We are thrilled to have reached our goal, but we know that the work is not finished yet - many churches are still raising funds toward the goals they set, individuals are still fulfilling their pledges, and many communities have not yet heard about the danger that malaria poses to billions of people around the world, or the opportunity we have to help end deaths from malaria in Africa in our lifetime. Please help us continue raising awareness, inviting generosity, and advocating for a healthier future and more abundant life for our sisters and brothers in God's family. Thank you for your part in this extraordinary effort to put our faith into action!

Steamboat Springs surpasses their goal by 50%!

We know that Imagine No Malaria is just one of many important causes that churches are asked to support, and that each congregation faces unique circumstances and challenges that affect their ability to raise the suggested $20 per member toward our Rocky Mountain Conference goal of $1.2 million. And so we are grateful when a church takes on that baseline goal with commitment and conviction, and thrilled when they surpass it by more than 50%!

Here's how Steamboat Springs UMC did it, submitted by member Dorothy Lindahl:

Just wanted to let you know what the Steamboat Springs UMC has been doing to support the Imagine No Malaria Campaign.  Our mission team set a goal of raising $8000 (approximately $20 per member as was suggested). 

On July 4th we set up a booth which included a bednet on the lawn of the church following the parade to let others know about the project.  We had a donation jar and literature and mosquitoes.  Next we advertised and showed the "Killer in the Dark" movie at the town library, with the children selling mosquitoes they had made in Sunday School.  At the UMW Fall Fare we offered a few items left from an Estate Sale. 

We have been taking coins in buckets on the third Sundays of the month called "Change for Change." We have a portable basketball hoop which is moved place to place in the church with a bucket for coins. A challenge was made to parents and kids to make a donation for every score made as they played sports. (Nets for Nets). At Christmas we offered cards for honor donations.

I don't have the exact figure we have collected but know it is more that $13,000. United Methodist Women gave $500 raised for mission work to the fund. This has been a joint project of the Mission Team and United Methodist Women. 

Congratulations and thanks to all who took part in these efforts, and praise God for an abundant return on your faithful work!

What has your church done so far to support the cause? What exciting plans do you have for the next several months? Please send stories and photos to kerry@rmcumc.com! 

We're all a-buzz!

The 2013 session of the Rocky Mountain Annual Conference begins two weeks from today, which means that conference staff and volunteers are buzzing around energetically trying to get everything ready in time!

I had hoped to have another video interview edited in time to post today, but I've encountered some technical difficulties in that process, so instead, here's a sneak peek at one of the items we're preparing for the Annual Conference Mission Banquet on June 14:

We call them "prayer nets," with Imagine No Malaria bookmarks attached, and every single person who attends Annual Conference will receive one at the Friday night banquet.

While these 9" squares of tulle doesn't look like much, the Steering Committee hopes that they will serve as a reminder of the millions of people who sleep more safely and soundly because of an insecticide-treated mosquito net over their bed, and of the work still ahead of us to reduce suffering and death from malaria through Prevention, Treatment, Education, and Communication.

The bookmarks include a photo, a verse of Scripture, a brief overview of the work of Imagine No Malaria, and an invitation to prayer and involvement.

If you're attending Annual Conference, make sure not to skip the Mission Banquet on June 14, and bring home your very own prayer net and bookmark!

"Whatever happened to Nothing But Nets?"

As I meet with United Methodists at District Conferences and other gatherings across the Rocky Mountain Conference, a few questions keep coming up, often from people who are very committed to missions and service through the church. One in particular that seems worth clarifying is, "Whatever happened to Nothing But Nets?"

Nothing But Nets, of course, is a campaign of the United Nations Foundation in partnership with the National Basketball Association/NBA Cares, The United Methodist Church, and several others. Begun in 2006, it brought malaria back into the public eye in the U.S., where a concentrated public health campaign all but eradicated malaria more than 60 years ago. "Send a net. Save a life." became a rallying cry to educate the U.S. public about how easy and affordable it is to support widespread malaria prevention in Africa (for just $10, an insecticide-treated bed net can protect up to four members of a family from malaria-infected mosquito bites for several years). Nothing But Nets was very successful, raising about $7.5 million in the first three years.

Insecticide-treated mosquito nets are still the best way to prevent malaria; however, other measures like draining standing water where the insects breed, trimming foliage and proper sanitation, are also critical. And while "nothing but net" is a great phrase in basketball, when it comes to malaria, prevention is only one piece of the puzzle. In other words, you want nets plus medication, hospital infrastructure, community education, and mass communication efforts.

And so, in 2008, building on the success of Nothing But Nets, and with the assistance of grant funding from the United Nations Foundation and (later) the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the UMC created a new, comprehensive program to fight malaria: Imagine No Malaria. It both continues the important preventive work of net distribution and builds on it, adding treatment, education, and communication strategies to bring about a sustainable victory over malaria in this generation. 

The new goal is to multiply the impact of Nothing But Nets tenfold: to raise $75 million in gifts and pledges by 2015. This audacious goal has the potential to save millions of lives - mostly women and children, who are the most vulnerable and make up the majority of deaths from the disease - and to make it possible for millions more who would have lived with and suffered from malaria to have a more abundant life in Jesus' name.

Confusion arises because while Imagine No Malaria is the new focus for United Methodist efforts to fight malaria, Nothing But Nets still exists and is still active, and for some churches, it is still a meaningful outlet for fundraising and malaria awareness efforts. Gifts made to Nothing But Nets through a local United Methodist Church count toward the broader goal of reducing deaths from malaria, but they are not counted toward conference fundraising goals for Imagine No Malaria.*  The UN Foundation has helped the UMC clarify that through Imagine No Malaria we are engaged in a new, more comprehensive initiative as a denomination, rather than partnering with the non-profit Nothing But Nets to focus on distributing bed nets only for prevention.

Children greet Bishop Elaine and other members of the UMC
delegation to distribute nets in Bom Jesus, Angola, in 2012

Given these options, I invite you to prayerfully consider how God might be leading you and your congregation to respond to Jesus' teachings to heal the sick and to care for "the least of these." Perhaps, with God's help, you can do more than you realize.

And however you are raising money to save lives, please drop me a line at the Conference office to let me know how your church is taking part in the work to end death and suffering from malaria - email kerry[at]rmcumc.com or call 303-733-3736 x152. Blessings on your work to help others live life to the fullest!


*This post originally stated incorrectly that gifts to Nothing But Nets do count towards Imagine No Malaria fundraising goals. Updated 4/11/13.