Archive for April, 2007
Senator McCain came to New Hampshire yesterday to officially announce his campaign to be the next President of the United States.
At his Portsmouth speech, there were five ONE members in the front row to make sure he saw the ONE Campaign white bands and black ONE shirts at the beginning of his own campaign.
Later in the day in the cold Manchester rain, I got a chance to speak with Senator McCain as he made his way to his campaign bus. In a crowd of people, I told him to fight AIDS and poverty in Africa. Senator McCain stopped for a brief moment and looked me in the eye and said “Yes I will…you bet I will.”
All day long I was running into people wearing the ONE band and coming out to show support for the world’s poorest people. It is going to be a long campaign season, but raising our voices and coming together as ONE, we will ensure that global health and global poverty is a campaign priority for both parties and all candidates
Since last Monday, ONE members have been writing and calling their senators asking them to sign on to the “Feinstein-Hagel” Dear Colleague letter asking for $39.8 billion for the international affairs budget (IAB). We want 60 signers by Friday, and right now we’re at 43.
If you don’t see both of your state’s senators below, please call 1-800-786-2663 and urge them to fully fund the IAB in 2008. Go here for some talking points for your call.
* Sen. Daniel Akaka (D-HI)
* Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-NM)
* Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA)
* Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH)
* Sen. Richard Burr (R-NC)
* Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-WA)
* Sen. Benjamin Cardin (D-MD)
* Sen. Robert Casey (D-PA)
* Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY)
* Sen. Norm Coleman (R-NM)
* Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME)
* Sen. Christopher Dodd (D-CT)
* Sen. Elizabeth Dole (R-NC)
* Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-ND)
* Sen. Richard Durbin (D-IL)
* Sen. Russ Feingold (D-WI)
* Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA)
* Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR)
* Sen. Chuck Hagel (D-NE)
* Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA)
* Sen. Daniel Inouye (D-HI)
* Sen. Johnny Isakson (R-GA)
* Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-MA)
* Sen. John Kerry (D-MA)
* Sen. Herb Kohl (D-WI)
* Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ)
* Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT)
* Sen. Joseph Lieberman (ID-CT)
* Sen. Richard Lugar (R-IN)
* Sen. Mel Martinez (R-FL)
* Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ)
* Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-MD)
* Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL)
* Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL)
* Sen. Ken Salazar (D-CO)
* Sen. Jack Reed (D- RI)
* Sen. Gordon Smith (R-OR)
* Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME)
* Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-MI)
* Sen. John Sununu (R-NH)
* Sen. George Voinovich (R-OH)
* Sen. John Warner (R-VA)
* Sen. James Webb (D-VA)
Lines formed down the street in front of Walt Disney Concert Hall in downtown Los Angeles; hordes of Idol fans awaiting in eager anticipation for the highly publicized “Idol Gives Back”; a two-hour extravaganza focusing attention on extreme poverty in Africa. I had the great fortune of being an audience member during the west coast taping of the event. Although I couldn’t be the play-by-play reporter that I wanted to be, due to the fact that no electronic devices were allowed inside the venue, here is my take on what I experienced during “Idol Gives Back” tonight.
Inspiring. Motivating. Exciting. Sobering. Hopeful.
Inspiring because influential people came together for one reason; to make poverty history.
Motivating because each person that attended and watched “Idol Gives Back” has the power to truly make a difference in other peoples’ lives.
Exciting because what took place during “Idol Gives Back” has an opportunity to produce significant results. Millions of people had the opportunity to give back.
Sobering because of the realities of the world we live in and the poverty that others endure.
Hopeful because we can do something about the emergency of AIDS and the reality of extreme poverty.
Ellen Degeneres hosted the show at Walt Disney Concert Hall with her usual charisma and charm; while Ryan Seacrest aired live on a large video screen behind her, delivering to his audience from CBS Studios in the Fairfax District of Los Angeles. The “Idol Gives Back” two-hour episode was an event that at times brought a tear to my eye, at times brought on heartache, and at other times put a smile on my face. This night truly symbolized an amazing effort and opportunity for Americans to come together and make a difference.
Earth Wind and Fire performed a montage of hits. Simon Cowell’s creation, Il Divo, broke the audience out into a unison wave of glow sticks. Rascal Flatts, Kelly Clarkson together with Jeff Beck, and Annie Lennox performed hearfelt musical renditions. The most inspiring music by far was Josh Groban and the African Children’s Choir. It was difficult not to shed a tear during their performance of “You Raise Me Up”. However sad the realities of extreme poverty may be, the fact that an awareness was produced in the eyes of millions of Americans was truly captivating. An impressive list of sponsors and beneficiaries were highlighted during the show. And an even more impressive list of charities were included: Save the Children, Unicef, and The Global Fund to name a few.
Before the show ended, the donations were already surpassing an astounding 30,000,000. For me, by far the most anticipated part of the show was seeing Bono on-screen, a self-proclaimed “Irish rock star on American Idol”. His words clearly stating, “There isn’t one person watching this program tonight that cannot save a life.”
We, as Americans, have the profound opportunity to Make Poverty History. That’s what tonight was all about. Bring on the new ONE members. We are ready!
Join ONE
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.
