Members of All Saints Lutheran, Novato, Calif., marched in the local July 4th parade to remind citizens what they’d spent six months trying to teach them: malaria awareness and how the congregation is collecting money to help eradicate the disease.
MIKE CHERNOCK
malaria Making
known By Julie B. Sevig A
ll Saints Lutheran Church in Novato, Calif., has been on a mission this year to make sure neigh- bors know about the ELCA Malaria Campaign. In
fact, members made it their own, calling it the “Novato Malaria Campaign” and attempting to raise $53,301—$1 for everyone in town. “Tese folks aren’t going to stop until they’ve carried
the message of malaria prevention and control to every one of their neighbors,” said Jessica Nipp Hacker, coor- dinator for the ELCA Malaria Campaign, who visited All Saints last November. Te 12 “apostles” (as they call themselves) on the
church steering committee wrapped up their campaign on July 4 when they marched with a spruced up flatbed truck in the city’s parade. Tey fell short of their goal, making only about one-fiſth of what they had hoped, but the money is still trickling in. Peter Quam chairs the apostles, who combined have
belonged to All Saints for more than 150 years—from 37 (Brian Mattson) to 12 years (Donna Sanders). Some of them have taken a turn as council president, with Sanders currently holding the gavel. Te ELCA’s inaugural “God’s work. Our hands.”
Sunday of service in September 2013 was a turning point for All Saints. Instead of the usual 70 to 80 at wor-
36
www.thelutheran.org
ship, attendance tipped the scales at more than 90 who served their community. Since their pastor, Annema- rie Burke, arrived 1 1/2 years before that, they’ve felt revitalized. “Maybe not growth yet, but new life, new energy,” they told Hacker. Members set out to analyze their community and
research emerging generations and how best to reach out to them. Part of their repurposing campaign was to dream big about malaria awareness and fundraising (
www.novatomalariacampaign.org). All Saints began by hosting a community dinner
attended by some 50 people, who learned about malaria research and parasites. From that dinner, the Novato Malaria Campaign
moved into the community to educate, gain partners and raise money. Knowing they couldn’t raise funds alone, they engaged schools, churches and organizations such as the Rotary Club and Soroptomists (an organza- tion that improves the lives of women and girls). For eight weeks, they had a booth at the farmers
market, sharing information on how to contribute to the campaign that would eventually give its money to four international malaria programs, including the ELCA Malaria Campaign (
www.elca.org/malaria). One successful partner was Mary’s Pizza Shack,
which gave 20 percent of its proceeds to the Novato Malaria Campaign during a “dine and donate night.” Emphasis was always on a blend of awareness and
fundraising, said Quam, who drove to the post office every day during the six-month campaign to pick up mailed checks. All efforts came to fruition on July 4 because, as
Quam explained, a short-term campaign is better in a small community because it’s labor intense. “We thought, ‘We’ll use our collective wisdom and not drag on forever,’ ” he said. And indeed they did use wisdom and energy, now
hoping other churches may do something similar in their communities. At presstime, the
ELCA Malaria Cam- paign had raised $12.5 million of its 2015 goal of $15 million.
Author bio: Sevig is a sec- tion editor of The Lutheran.
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52