By the end of the Los Angeles Clippers game tonight, malaria will kill over 60 people in Sub-Saharan Africa, mostly pregnant women and children.  That is why over 500 people from the California-Pacific Conference of The United Methodist Church will be in attendance to kick off the 2014 Imagine No Malaria initiative to raise $3 million in saving 300,000 lives.

Actress Pauley Perrette (NCIS) is the Co-Chair of the California-Pacific Conference’s Imagine No Malaria initiative.  The initiative is the extraordinary ongoing effort to raise $3 million to save 300,000 lives by the people of the The United Methodist Church’s “California-Pacific Conference,” a region made up of some 80,000 members in almost 400 local churches throughout Southern California, parts of Central California, Hawaii, the Pacific Islands, Guam and Saipan.

Throughout 2014, many local churches will engage in fundraising projects such as the youth group projects of Los Altos United Methodist Church (Long Beach) last year that raised $3,000, projects that included Mother’s Day mosquito net wrapped flower bouquets and a 24-hour fast while camping in mosquito net covered tents outdoors.  In Africa, the on-the-ground effort involves the distribution of mosquito nets, drainage of standing water, improvement of sanitation, provision of health care, and dissemination of malaria information via portable radios.

Partners of the global Imagine No Malaria initiative of The United Methodist Church include the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the United Nations Foundation and The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.

Media Contact:
James J. Kang, Director of Communications
California-Pacific Annual Conference
jkang@calpacumc.org // (626) 568-7369

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