ONE is still on the road with the Dave Matthews Band, talking to fans all across the country about fighting poverty, joining forces with our sister organization (RED) as well! We’ve spent the past two weeks going from Florida to Texas, building support along the way…

Our time in Florida started out in Gainesville, where our team of volunteers included Tricia, who had volunteered with us at the Daytona 500 NASCAR event last year, Brady, a freshman at UF who has been involved with ONE for a while but was volunteering for the first time, and Christine and Leah, UF students who definitely figured out the best way to get their fellow students on board with our work! We also had Holly and Jamie joining us, and Yee, a UF law student who was technically suppose to be volunteering for another organization, but that organization couldn’t set up and since she was already there, she joined us! They all did AMAZING – this was seriously one of the best volunteer crews we’ve worked with all year long!

We hit Tampa the next afternoon, ready to work, and deal with Florida’s never ending late summer rain. We were expecting a typical light summer Florida shower, but our light summer shower turned out to be a storm of what felt like apocalyptic proportions. Before we knew it our tents had turned into a shelter for a bunch of very wet DMB fans and our bewildered volunteer crew. Our team in Tampa included Joe, a first-time volunteer who came to the show with his friend Katherina, Penny who was a first-time volunteer, Missy and Dave, a couple from upstate New York who are going to school in Florida, and Sam and Kelley, who get bonus points for offering to come volunteer with only 12 hours notice! The team did great, getting hundreds of Dave fans signed up before the rain cut our night short. Loading out wasn’t much fun, but so it goes!

We continued our trek through Florida, working to spread the word about ONE and (RED) to Dave Matthews Band fans in West Palm Beach. The shows were a big success – lots of people got signed up and involved, our volunteers were great, and we even were spared the worst of Florida’s rain – especially in comparison to the night we had in Tampa!

As always, we had yet another great crew of volunteers join us. On our first night in West Palm Beach, Jeanette and Mariel hit the lawn with great success, while Brenda and Maika canvassed the concourse and helped out at the booth. Our second group of volunteers arrived, and once they received their training we were at full force! The constant flood of eager fans kept us busy right up until show time, and by the time the music started we were all ready for a break as we regrouped for the second half. Once the band was done, the flood of fans reversed its path as 18,000 people headed for the gates. Our second group of volunteers, Bo, David, Wendy, Jordan, and Eric, all put forth a great final effort working the gates and catching many of the exiting fans. All in all, a very good night!

The second night got off to a bit of a mild start – the crowd seemed to trickle in at a little slower rate than last night, and this gave us a chance to walk the lawn a little more before the show. We had three volunteers, as opposed to our usual average of seven or eight, and this made things a little more difficult, but our team was definitely on top of their game! Nancy came out full force, returning to the table twice sporting full sheets on her clipboard, and Tricia and Dinorah weren’t the least bit intimidated by the mass of party people crowded on the lawn. The booth saw its fair share of curious and interested fans, and lots and lots of fans went home with new ONE shirts. What are the odds that there would be five fans that would fit the extra small women’s EDUN shirts in the same day? We also had a little lizard hanging out on our table all night – this IS Florida – we tried to convince fans it was Dave’s pet lizard and we were watching it for him, but people weren’t believing us.

We took on Texas this past weekend, were we got thousands of fans involved with ONE and (RED) while in Houston and Dallas, working, as always, with a bunch of very cool volunteers to make it happen. We had a super crew join us in Houston, including long-time ONE volunteers Tracey, Al and Lisa, as well as new volunteers Kelly, Sarah, Luke, Cindy, Fernando and Katie. The team did great – hitting the ground running, so to speak, after going through their training! The next night in Dallas proved to be even more successful. Somehow, all of our volunteers arrived within 5 minutes of each other – always a good sign of how the evening would go! Joining us to help in Dallas was Kelly, a fifth grade teacher, Robert, Elliot, and Eliza, all students, and Melody and Cheryl, long-time friends and advocates of the ONE Campaign and (RED). Since all of our volunteers were familiar with the campaign, training was a snap, and we all had a little time to relax before the doors were open to the fans. Once the venue was open, our crew was all business, returning to the booth only to get more sign up sheets. Our tent was in full swing as well thanks to a great location, and many new supporters as well as several old friends of the campaign stopped by to show their support.

We’re looking forward to the last leg of the tour with a bunch of dates in California – watch for more updates soon!

-Brande Jackson, ONE Concert Outreach