First it was the Imagine No Malaria challenge video, then members of First UMC Columbus assembled the collection boxes to be used to raise money for mosquito nets that help save lives, and now, they are beating up a car.

Elizabeth Swartz of First UMC Columbus said this Sunday, Oct. 30 at the Annual Fall Festival, there will be a special fundraiser to buy nets while raising awareness for this project.

Swartz said they will have a “Smash Malaria” car! They plan to cover an old car with pictures of mosquitoes and charge a $1 for three smashes at the car. All proceeds will go to the No More Malaria Campaign. They will also be distributing Imagine No Malaria offering boxes, information sheets and return labels for the offering.

“We typically have 700 or more people at this event, and hope that this will be a great opportunity to spread this ministry into our community,” Swartz said.

Starkville District Superintendent Rev. Dr. Embra Jackson said the No More Malaria Challenge is going very well at Columbus FUMC and he encourages all churches to accept the challenge.

Money raised will help to purchase mosquito nets. Each net costs $10 and can save one life.

“We are asking each church to purchase as many nets as they can by the end of May, just in time for the 2017 Mississippi Annual Conference,” Jackson said in reference to Mississippi Bishop James Swanson setting a goal for the Mississippi Conference Mission Focus to provide 100,000 mosquito nets for Imagine No Malaria by the 2017 annual conference.

According to statistics from the Imagine No Malaria campaign,   malaria was eliminated in the United States in the 1950s. The research says that in Sub-Saharan Africa, malaria continues to kill a child every two minutes. The campaign says, “by improving the ways people fight the disease using bed nets, providing access to diagnostic tests and medicine, draining standing water and improving sanitation Imagine No Malaria has already helped reduce malaria deaths by more than half. Imagine No Malaria combines integrated health infrastructure, education and advocacy to address death and the debilitating effects of malaria in sub-Saharan Africa.”

For more information or resources, go to http://www.imaginenomalaria.org.

See the challenge video on the facebook group page or use the dropbox link for iPhone or iPad, you will need to use this link on a Mac or PC to download files:  https://www.dropbox.com/sh/ltppq;fd135qbfu/AAD19wJhF4jFay6ZmkShDWUra/INM?dl+0.

For more ideas to support the No More Malaria campaign, go to This story is featured in the October 28, 2016 edition of The Starkville District Newsletter at: