Last night, on the southwest side of Chicago, a group of us gathered around the TV to watch the final six contestants perform on American Idol and hear what the show had to say about fighting poverty. During this special show, Idol Gives Back, I was pleasantly surprised that the show addressed all areas of poverty: global and domestic, urban and rural, etc. While I wrote this people continued to vote, not only to keep their favorite contestant on the show, but to symbolize the frustration so many of us feel when we see how little it takes to eradicate poverty and yet how massive a task it seems! Hopefully after last night and tonight, our voices will be heard in a big way!

If you weren’t able to watch last night, I hope you can tune in tonight! ONE bands were visible on a number of people and I can’t wait to hear the final tally of votes cast and hopefully witness a sea of white bands in the audience! No doubt these shows will spread the word of ONE even further!

As the show ended, my friends and I quickly grabbed our phones and after several attempts, added our votes and our voices to the total. After tomorrow’s results show, it seems as though no one on Capitol Hill will be able to say they didn’t know we wanted to make poverty history!