Mission Accomplished!: Imagine No Malaria … we saved over 1,000 lives !

The Sunday School classes at FUMC Melrose lead the church in a year  long fundraiser for Imagine No Malaria, a program of the United Methodist Church that is working to end deaths from malaria in Africa. Our church had pledged to raise $10,000 which will save 1,000 lives by funding the distribution of bed nets, providing medicine for treatment, educating the public about prevention, and training doctors to help those infected.

Imagine No Malaria is a campaign of the greater United Methodist Church… learn more about the campaign and how your donations will be used  HERE 

We are pleased to report that the campaign exceeded our goal by several thousand dollars!  As a visual reminder, we decorated the sanctuary railings with people cut-outs.  Each cutout represented a $10 donation, and one life saved.

Imagine no Malaria 2014 Mission Project
Imagine no Malaria 2014 Mission Project
1000 figures, over $10,000 raised for Imagine No Malaria
1000 figures, over $10,000 raised for Imagine No Malaria

A sampling of the fundraisers were:

Christmas ornaments made by the Sunday school classes and sold throughout the fall and holiday season.

During Lent, we used a Lenten giving calendar of activities and challenges, where the children and families made a small donation every day for lent using such prompts as $.10 for each electrical outlet in your home, $1 for each faucet, etc….  and bringing in their final donations on Easter Sunday.

Our Sunday School children have decorated coin cards as valentines in a “Valentines for Africa” campaign, each card full of quarters was a $10 donation.

“Swarming” church families and neighbors…. donations were taken to place a “swarm” of toy mosquitoes and nets on someones lawn.  Alternatively you could pay upfront for “insurance” that your lawn would not become the victim of a “swarm”!

This effort by the United Methodist Church is ongoing, you can make a pledge at any time using this link.  http://imaginenomalaria.org/#donate

Thank you to all the church family, friends and neighbors who made this campaign possible!