At a girl scout meeting with troop 1449 last night, we talked about the children of the world who are not as fortunate as us, and explained that when I’m not working on the plan for their next badge, I work for an organization who helps the poorest of the poor. It’s hard for scouts that are 6 and 7 living in the suburbs of Central Florida, to comprehend a world without basic needs like clean water or not being able to attend school…so we brought it to their level. I told them about our friend Nancy, who was leaving for Africa the next day to bring supplies to children in need. The girls, along with their parents, brought coloring books and colored pencils to donate to the children in Africa… their first steps towards advocacy!!

I’m proud to say these are all my girls… not only am I a ONE organizer for FL, GA, MS and AL, but also proud to be a Leader for my 11 Brownie Girl Scoutsl! I look forward to watching the growth of these girls, and what they will do to help make change…these are our future leaders, and as part of the Girl Scout Law reads, I will try… to make the world a better place.

At the very end of the show, we saw ONE’s founder Bono meet with the six American Idol contestants while they were learning “American Prayer,” the song he wrote with Dave Stewart about the AIDS emergency in Africa.

Contestants Jordin Sparks, LaKisha Jones, Chris Richardson and Phil Stacey wore EDUN ONE shirts. Contestant Melinda Doolittle wore the inspired RED shirt. (You can buy your own EDUN ONE shirt and ONE band here.)

Bono told them:

“People say you can’t be the generation that ends brutal, stupid poverty, but we can and we will.”

Find out more…

Join ONE

Below, some more shots here at the ONE headquarters. We’re thrilled that so many people learned about ONE tonight, and we’re even more thrilled to keep fighting to end poverty with all of our new Idol-watching members tomorrow.

We just saw Ryan give the first ONE.org shout out of the show. Welcome our new ONE.org visitors.

Please sign up!

We ONE members are a rowdy crowd looking to make a difference. We couldn’t be happier to have you on board.

Again, we see more footage from Ryan and Simon’s travels. This time we meet Emily, who takes care of 13 AIDS orphans in a home the size of a tent, and Ruth a 28-year old woman and mother of two who is dying of AIDS. Simon and Ryan watch as Ruth is loaded into a truck that will take her to a hospital. We find out that Ruth died two days later.

Photos of us watching here at ONE headquarters.

Shortly after I took these I heard someone yell “I see a ONE shirt!” and excited applause from our small but passionate crew. You can buy your own here.

During the first half hour of the show, we see footage of Ryan and Simon’s in Kibera, a slum in Nairobi, Kenya that fits 1.2 million people in an area the size of New York City’s Central Park.

There they meet a boy who has lost both of his parents and lives with his sister in a one-room home. These two young people must cook, clean, and take care of themselves. The school they go to, costs $200 a year each, and is their only hope to escape extreme poverty.

More to come…

Idol Gives Back is starting and we’re all gathered around at ONE headquarters.

We’re waiting, just like like you, to see what happens, but we already see the ONE bands all through the audience. (You can buy yours here.)

If you’re not tuned, then tune in!

FOX 8/7c

More at the 30 minute mark!

Some of the American Idol contestants might roll out on stage tonight wearing EDUN ONE.org shirts.

The shirts are made in Africa, of 100% African cotton, and every purchase helps bring trade to some of the poorest regions of the world.

You can learn more about EDUN, the socially conscious clothing brand created by Ali Hewson, Bono and New York clothing designer Rogan Gregory here, and purchase your own shirt from our store.

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!

A Birmingham Fox TV channel aired an
interview today with ONE super volunteer Elaine VanCleave.

Elaine rocked the interview talking about Idol Gives Back, explaining ONE, and telling people how they can get involved nationally and locally at ONE.org.

A quote from Elaine:

“A lot of people do become paralyzed to act because the problem seems so overwhelming but what I would like to tell people is don’t be paralyzed because you can sit at home and choose to do nothing or you can act and make a difference. So I urge people to get involved.”