From Bishop Sally Dyck:
Dear Clergy in the Minnesota Annual Conference:
Blessings on you as you lead your congregations to cultivate spiritual vitality and reach new people with the gospel during this Easter Season!
I am writing to let you know that we as an annual conference are launching an opportunity to save lives—180,000 lives to be exact. The good news is that we have already saved 60,000 lives. The lives we are saving are those who would otherwise die of malaria in the near future.
In 2008, the General Conference of The United Methodist Church voted to raise $75 million dollars in a partnership to save lives from malaria-related deaths in Africa. Each annual conference has been assessed a goal and our goal is 180,000 lives at $1.8 million. The good news is that a donor has already given $600,000 toward that goal so the Minnesota Annual Conference has $1.2 million in pledges to raise by annual conference 2012 through Imagine No Malaria.
Imagine No Malariais more than Nothing but Nets because it includes these components:
-
Prevention—providing insecticide-treated bed nets, pesticides and tools to drain standing water;
-
Treatment—providing medical supplies, medication and rapid diagnostic tests;
-
Communication—using radio stations and cell phones to encourage proper use of bed nets, providing hand-crank and solar-powered radios for educational purposes;
-
Education—training volunteers to educate families about malaria prevention and treatment (3,700 local volunteers were trained to distribute nets in Sierra Leone in November 2010).
This is a wonderful opportunity to energize our congregations to save lives, to empower people—especially young people—to make a difference in changing the world, and to be a part of something big that saves children, women and men from a dreaded disease that used to be across the US, including Minnesota.
Leia Williams is our field coordinator who will help us raise $1.2 million in Minnesota. You will find her to be an inspiration as you and your parishioners learn about malaria and how to raise money to prevent deaths from malaria. She is available in local churches as well as the district training to help your congregation raise awareness as you reach your monetary goal to save lives from malaria-related deaths.
How many lives will you and your church save? That’s the question you have to begin to ask yourselves!
I expect all congregations to do what they can to prevent malaria-related deaths throughout the world. Let’s join Jesus in healing the sick! What an opportunity we have to save lives! You will hear more about Imagine No Malaria at annual conference and Leia Williams will be available for you to talk to throughout our time in St. Cloud…and beyond! Plan to save lives today!
Sincerely, Sally Dyck
For more information, visit Imagine No Malaria's website!