This past Saturday Aug 11, Jonestown, PA, was declared the very first “City of ONE” in Pennsylvania!

The community came together for the Annual Spirit of Jonestown Parade and Picnic where ONE supporters hosted a float in the parade and a table where people could join the campaign at the picnic. At the picnic, Jonestown Mayor George Kaufman signed the “City of ONE” Proclamation and State Representative RoseMarie Swanger presented the volunteers with a “Certificate of Recognition” from the State house.

ONE member and Jonestown resident Brian Sweeney headed the effort to secure the proclamation and have a float for ONE in the parade. “I have learned through my volunteering with ONE what I can do as an average citizen to make a difference in fighting extreme poverty around the world. Turns out, there’s a lot I can do,” explains Sweeney. “I can ask my mayor to make my hometown a City of ONE, I can ask my Governor to declare my state a State of ONE, and I can call on my representatives in Congress to make the right decisions for the world’s poorest people.”

Jonestown ONE members worked for months, meeting with the mayor, planning for the float, and recruiting more volunteers to help them out on this special day! All in all it was a great success and Mayor Kaufman said it best during the proclamation signing, “I am proud that Jonestown is Pennsylvania’s first City of ONE. Each of us has a responsibility to help others in an emergency. When people are dying from diseases that can be easily cured or treated, I consider that an emergency. With the Jonestown residents, this is something I can do to help. We need to acknowledge the problems, learn about the issues and take action with the ONE Campaign.”

Jonestown joins 109 cities, 10 states and three colleges that have been declared Cities, States and Colleges of ONE across the country. Find more information on how to get your city declared a “City of ONE” here.

-Kim Smith, Regional Field Organizer

This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 14th, 2007 at 1:39 pm and is filed under Pennsylvania, City of ONE. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.