From the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America 

CHICAGO — Students attending some of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America’s colleges, universities and campus ministries surpassed a matching challenge goal of raising $125,000 for the ELCA Malaria Campaign by $6,619.20 and counting.

 The Sorenson Matching Challenge was established by Arne and Ruth Sorenson of Chevy Chase, Maryland, who gave an initial gift of $25,000 to the ELCA Malaria Campaign, which was distributed as seed money to 12 ELCA colleges, universities and campus ministries to support their fundraising efforts.

 The second part of the Sorensons’ gift was a $125,000 matching challenge, designed to match the money raised by college students. The 12 grantee institutions were joined by 23 other organizations to raise money for the ELCA Malaria Campaign. The challenge given to the students was to raise the money by the end of the 2013-14 school year, which they completed right on time.

 In order to raise the money needed, the campus ministries at the 35 institutions reached out to schools and congregations, held concerts and fundraising events, and showed the effects of malaria to the students at their schools. Although malaria is preventable and treatable, each year more than 200 million people worldwide become infected with the disease and more than 600,000 people die, many of these children under 5.

Wartburg College alone raised just over $43,000 with its Wartburg Malaria Initiative, a year-long, campus-wide initiative held in cooperation with the ELCA Malaria Campaign.

“I am really proud of the Wartburg Malaria Initiative and our efforts as a community to partner with the ELCA Malaria Campaign,” said Kelsey Nulph ’14, who led the initiative. “By March of the academic year we had surpassed our fundraising goal, but we continued to fundraise and involve students, faculty, staff and community members in the efforts of the Wartburg Malaria Initiative.”

More than 700 Wartburg students were involved in the work of the initiative through student-staffed tables at every Wartburg home game in a variety of sports and multiple Wartburg events, such as Homecoming, a benefit concert and Family Weekend.

 “I am so thankful for the opportunity to participate in the Sorenson Matching Challenge because it provided hundreds of college students the opportunity to serve our brothers and sisters in Africa,” said Nulph.

 “The ELCA can be proud of the dedicated students who have worked hard to educate their peers and raise so much money to support malaria programs in Africa!” said Jessica Nipp ’98, coordinator of the ELCA Malaria Campaign. “Their committed and creative leadership has catalyzed generosity in many communities and on many campuses across the ELCA.”

The funds raised by college students and matching grants will be used to provide life-saving health care, train pastors, teach people how to protect themselves from the spread of malaria, and distribute insecticide-treated mosquito nets.

 The ELCA Malaria Campaign, initiated by the 2011 ELCA Churchwide Assembly, seeks to raise $15 million by the end of 2015. Through the campaign, ELCA members have joined with companion Lutheran congregations and partners in 13 African countries to prevent and treat malaria, educate communities about the disease and more. To date, the campaign has raised $12.4 million of the $15 million goal. The campaign is a priority of Always Being Made New: The Campaign for the ELCA — a five-year campaign seeking to raise $198 million in support of new and expanded ELCA churchwide ministries.