Last year at this time, I was a very unhappy worker bee in Columbus, OH, in a job that I was growing to hate – but, I was volunteering on the side with ONE which kept me motivated and inspired that change was possible – around the world and in my life.

In the New Year, I started searching for my dream job and continuing my duties as volunteer lead with the ONE Columbus group. Never did I imagine that I would be hired for ONE in August. Now I have the opportunity to thank all the hard-working volunteers in my region (Ohio, Michigan and West Virginia) for a job well done in 2006!

Here are some highlights from the region:

• 
  ONE groups formed: ONE Cincinnati (Thanks, Bonnie), ONE Ann Arbor (University of Michigan-Thanks, Mike, Zina and Rocky), ONE WVU (West Virginia University–Thanks Stephanie), ONE OSU (Thanks, Beth)!

• 
  ONE Coshocton joins as a “City of ONE”

• 
  Jeffrey Sachs mentions the Columbus STAND UP Against Poverty event

• 
  Mayor Coleman announces Columbus as a “City of ONE” at the STAND UP Against Poverty event

Although 2006 was great, 2007 will be even better. My New Year’s dream for ONE in my region would be the following…How happy I would be.

• 
  5,000 Sign-Ups on the ONE Declaration from ONE group activities

• 
  7 new “Cities of ONE” – I’m rooting for the following: Detroit, MI, Livonia, MI, Ann Arbor, OH, Cincinnati, OH, Hamilton, OH, Morgantown, WV, Charleston, WV

• 
  2 “College/Universities of ONE”: Come on WVU & University of Michigan!

• 
  5 additional ONE groups: check out the yahoo groups listing to see if there’s a group in your area…if not, start a group today!

• 
  ONE members in Michigan, Ohio and West Virginia meeting with their representatives (calling and writing is good, too!)

But most importantly, let me know what ONE activities you are doing in Ohio, Michigan and West Virginia by creating a yahoo group. Keep bringing ONE to your schools, churches, synagogues, social groups and communities as a whole. I look forward to working with you in 2007.

A couple of weeks ago, all the ONE field organizers attended a meeting up in DC and I got to meet our four new organizers: Renee, Betsy, Anissa and Ranna. Now that we’re all back to our homes, I wanted to take a few minutes to post this group shot.

ONE members can get a hold of any of us by emailing giveyourtime@one.org. We can answer questions
about starting new groups, running events or plans for the future. We’re all excited for ONE’s growth and the challenges in the coming years.

(Go ahead, send us an email, even if just to say hi!)

Field Staff and Regional Field Organizers (name, locations and states within
their regions)

(back row)

Renee Ruiz, Field Organizer, Kansas (NE, CO, NM, UT, OK, AR, MO)
Stephanie Handler, Field Organizer, California (NV, AZ, WA, OR HI, AK)
Betsy Shelton, Field Organizer, Iowa (ND, SD, MN, MT, WY, ID)
Kim Smith, Field Organizer, Kentucky (TN, SC, TX, LA)
Michael Edwards, Field Coordinator, East Coast
Matthew Bartlett, Field Organizer, New Hampshire (ME, VT, MA, RI, CT)

(front row)
Anissa Wanat, Field Organizer, Illinois (WI, IN)

Anne Batchelder, Field Coordinator, West Coast
Ranna-Maria Lanagan, Field Organizer, Washington DC (MD, VA)
Vicky Rateau, Field Director
Katie Andrews, Field Organizer, Ohio (MI, WV)
Joan Faulkner, Field Organizer, Florida (AL, GA, MS)

Last week, a man who helped create the Nata Village Blog, a site written by health workers and volunteers at a health clinic in Nata, Botswana, emailed me.

It was sites like this one that first got me excited about the power and possibilities of blogging.

As a Nata Village Blog reader, I know that the 24 employees at this small clinic, which includes just one doctor, serve over 12,000 people in a country with one of the highest HIV rates in the world.

Living in the States can make it difficult to understand what life is like in a small African village, but this one blog allows anyone with anyone with internet access and a computer the opportunity to watch Nata’s day to day struggle against HIV and AIDS.

The world’s tallest living man saves two dolphins in China.

Now, I promise I haven’t gone crazy and this does relate to ONE.

It’s actually a very simple connection that sometimes we lose sight of during our busy lives. When I first read this article about veterinarians requesting the use of the world’s longest arms to pull plastic out of the stomachs of two dolphins, I asked myself, “How on Earth would they have thought to do that!” Well, they thought about the unique talents of the people of China and one individual has the unique gift of long arms.

Genius idea and very simple! So, I am requesting the use of all the unique gifts, talents and resources in your community. Put them to good use in 2007 and they may end of saving lives all around the world. Think about all the fun and interesting ways that you can introduce ONE in your area and use all the resources you see and take advantage of everyday.

Another Presidential hopeful, Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, came to New Hampshire on Thursday and spoke to a group of Granite Staters in Manchester.

During his speech he spoke about the need for America to rise up and meet the biggest challenges our country faces in the world. I could not help but think about global AIDS and extreme poverty as being one my generation’s biggest, yet completely solvable, problems. We have the medicine, technology, and know-how to effectively beat diseases like AIDS and malaria, and I know, that together in this movement, we will ultimately have the will.

After his speech, I was able to talk directly with Gov. Romney. I explained the ONE Campaign and let him know that Americans everywhere are realizing what our country is doing right now and asking our government to go even further to get the job done. Gov. Romney told me about his friend in Ghana who is working right now on better ways to combat malaria in Africa. Amazing work. He thanked ONE for our efforts and took our ONE band with him.

It is important to let our leaders know that making poverty history is not only possible, it is a priority. In New Hampshire, people are turning to the ONE Campaign to make that happen, and they’re being heard!

It’s great to see new members joining ONE everyday, and it’s even more exciting when they create a new ONE group in their city! I was recently contacted by Robin Hawking who wanted to learn how to start a new ONE group in Tampa Bay. Robby said: “Learning about ONE has really opened up our eyes about what is going on outside of our own “four walls”. We want to be a part of this wonderful organization and its campaign to make poverty history.”

I explained how easy it is to get a new ONE group started and forwarded her the ONE Declaration, a variety of fact sheets and some talking points. After talking with Robin, she and her husband Michael have created “TampaBayONE” and will be coordinating events starting in 2007. Robin has already presented the ONE Proclamation to the city, in hopes of Tampa becoming a “City of ONE.” Thank you Robin. So many people have wanted to join a local Tampa ONE group. I’m sure they’ll be glad to hear from you. We look forward to hearing about events and outreach in Tampa Bay, Florida!

We did it!

Yesterday, President Bush signed the AGOA Bill into law. This means that “third-country fabric” provision of AGOA, a trade policy that is critical to the growing African textile industry, will be extended until 2012.

Over the past few week, Democrats and Republicans chose to come together to renew legislation that is working to create jobs in some of the poorest countries in the world. There is much more to do, but it’s important to celebrate our victories when they come.

Below find some of the recent posts from our fight to extend AGOA.

• AGOA posts in September and November

• 
  
  Delivering Your Letters by Hand to Congress

• 
  
  Victory in the House

• 
  Victory in the Senate

• 
  AGOA Passes Congress

• 
  
  Bono’s Statement on the Passage of AGOA in Congress

• 
  Thanking Congress

(I’m about to catch a flight home for the holidays, but will post more when I arrive.)

As many of you have heard, the Ethiopian government recently asked Starbucks to sign a licensing agreement that will allow Ethiopia to control the names of its coffees. That way, Ethiopia can help determine an export price and can make sure Ethiopian farmers see a larger share of the profits, enabling them to feed their children, send them to school and get them better healthcare.

This past Saturday, Oxfam supporters gathered for the ‘Oxfam Starbucks Day of Action.’ Thousands of activists, Ethiopian-Americans, and coffee lovers
in more than a dozen countries – from New Zealand to Scotland to the US – visited Starbucks stores to ask them to keep their commitments to
Ethiopian coffee farmers. Here is a video with some of the highlights from this weekend.

For more information on Oxfam’s work to protect coffee farmers’ rights, or
to find out how you can get involved, please visit http://www.oxfamamerica.org/starbucks.

Thanks for your support!

No snow but it is getting cold here in New Hampshire. But that did not stop a few high profile leaders from coming to the Granite State to test out the presidential waters.

Newt Gingrich stopped in Manchester and I was surprised to see that his number one example for what America should be doing right now is devoting more money to finding vaccines for AIDS and Malaria! That is a brave and bold idea and I was proud to give Newt the ONE band on his way out the door.

And Sen. Joe Biden made a Sunday afternoon visit to New Hampshire. I spoke with him about the ONE Campaign being our generation’s chance to fight AIDS and truly make poverty history. He proudly put on the ONE band and told me that our work was “the real thing.”

It is important for our leaders to know that if they are coming to New Hampshire, they should be talking about AIDS and poverty. It is important to us as Americans, and important even here in New Hampshire. The people of New Hampshire care about where our country is headed and how we as a people are viewed around the world.

Nevermind the partisan politics, nevermind the (R) or the (D), we are going to make sure that in the 2008 NH Primary, we are going to make our voices heard on our issues. Republicans…Democrats…we are all Americans. Look for more stories from ONE Campaign Trail as things are about to get exciting up here in the Northeast.

Over 2006 our campaign secured an additional one billion dollars in anti-poverty funding, but because Congress failed to pass funding bills for the 2007 fiscal year, all of those increases could now be lost.

However, there is additional money that Congress can still distribute into key programs for the 2007 budget.

Act now to tell Congress that this money should go to fighting extreme poverty.

Making strides in the war against extreme poverty requires giving programs that work the resources they need. As we enter the new political environment in Washington, it’s critical that Democrats and Republicans work together to make this happen.

Tell your members of Congress to give people living in extreme poverty the assistance they need now.