Nine-Year Old Brings It On

Mar 15th, 2007 12:00 PM UTC
By Virginia Simmons

After learning about AIDS medication during the launch of Product (RED) on Oprah in December, nine-year old Joseph Duffield sat down and wrote a letter to one of his members of Congress, Representative Spratt:

“Okay, think about this, you are someone in Africa who has a deadly disease that you can’t fix because you live on a dollar-a-day budget which you have to spend on food even though it’s not enough money for you to survive. So fifty cents a day is all it takes to save a life. Fifty cents!”

In a recent article in the Charlotte Observer, Representative Spratt responded: “That was one of the best-written letters I’ve received from any constituent of any age.”

Now, Joseph is collecting money (one penny at a time) for charities that provide AIDS medications in the world’s poorest countries, giving presentations before church leaders, spreading the word in his school and encouraging other South Carolina residents to write to Representative Spratt, just like he did.

If you’re from South Carolina, please take a moment to write a letter to Representative Spratt asking him to support full funding of poverty-reduction aid in the 2008 budget.

TAGS: The ONE Blog