Senator John Edward was at Riverbend Middle School in Iowa falls, IA on Friday. I had set up my ONE gear right by the back entrance where the Senator entered. After greeting people who had waited to welcome him, Senator Edwards continued toward the ONE table and stopped to look at the literature. As his staff put on the microphone, I thanked him for his continuous support, and asked if he was wearing the ONE band, he extended his left arm and said, “put one on please.” I slid the wristband on his arm, and he proceeded. He kept the band on during the entire event.
During his speech, he talked about how America has to restore its positive image, “we have to be the light that shines the goodness”, he said. He continued talking about how America has to lead in all fights, “we are in the position to end poverty and stop the spread of disease,” the senator told a crowd of about 120 people. Most of the senator’s staff was wearing ONE bands. One in particular was proud to pose for a picture. I failed to ask his name but the picture speaks for itself.
Thanks to the custodians at Riverbend Middle School for providing me the table and the senator’s staff who helped me to set up.
EDUN, the socially-conscious clothing company founded by Ali Hewson, Bono and NY clothing designer Rogan Gregory, launched an auction of celebrity customized ONE shirts – and all proceeds will go to ONE!
Head over to EDUNonline.com now to check out the shirts customized by Ben Affleck, Ellen Pompeo, Kerry Washington, Laila Ali, Chris Daughtry, Raquel Welch, Kirsty Hume, Donovan Leitch and their daughter Violet, Courtney Love, Gwyneth Paltrow, The Citizens Band, Rashida Jones, Liv Tyler, Michelle Monaghan, Julianne Moore, and Waris and to make a bid.
As I say every time, all of the EDUN ONE shirts are made in Lesotho Africa of 100% African cotton and $10 from every shirt purchase goes to ALAFA fund, a program to provide AIDS treatment to factory workers and their families.
The African Children’s Choir came to Concord, New Hampshire, today and ONE Vote ’08 partnered with them for a special event at the New Hampshire State House!
You may remember the African Children’s Choir as they were at the national ONE Vote ’08 launch in DC and were also featured on the “American Idol – Idol gives back” show earlier this year.
We were very excited, and before they preformed in the Hall of Flags lobby of the State House, we gave them a tour which included both the New Hampshire Senate and the New Hampshire House of Representatives. There is a great shot of NH State Senator David Gottesman watching as one of the talented singers sat in his Senate seat. Then it was down the marble stairs where over a hundred guests and ONE supporters gathered for our event.
Our ONE Vote ’08 Republican co-chair Rich Ashooh introduced the State Senate President Sylvia Larson, and NH ONE Ambassador, who greeted the Choir. Then NH Gov. Lynch offered a commendation for the African Children’s Choir and thanked them and ONE Vote ’08 for our efforts to alleviate poverty and disease in Africa.
The Choir performance was amazing, and the historic Hall of Flags was packed with ONE supporters! We had many NH Representatives, as well as State Senators Maggie Hasson and Robert “Bob” Letourneau. We even saw many representatives from some of the presidential campaigns and staffers from NH US Rep. Hodes’ Office.
Here in New Hampshire, ONE Vote ’08 has build broad bi-partisan support on behalf of the world’s poorest people. Today was a celebration of our efforts and of all of the world’s children that struggle to overcome global disease and global extreme poverty. We cannot thank the African Children’s Choir enough for their beautiful performance today and for brining their story, and their song to help rally Americans together as ONE!
More to come…even a video of the event!
-Matthew Bartlett, ONE Regional Organizer
UPDATE: Watch this clip of the African Children’s Choir taking a quick tour at the New Hampshire State House and their amazing performance – with special introductions from NH Gov. John Lynch and NH Senate President Sylvia Larson!
Ellen Johnson Sirleaf has helped heal a country torn apart by conflict through perseverance, personal courage, and an unwavering commitment to building a more hopeful future for her homeland. The first woman elected president of an African nation, she has worked to expand freedom and improve the lives of people in Liberia and across Africa.
Importantly, last week tens of thousands of ONE members took action urging the IMF to provide Liberia the debt relief the institution owed the country 18 months ago. More info on that here and here.
First Lady Laura Bush talked about PEPFAR and the President’s Malaria Initiative on the Chris Wallace show on Sunday. Watch the clip here. (Note, it may take a few minutes for the full video to load.)
From the interview:
Laura Bush: But many of the policies that I’ve had the chance to visit, like the PEPFAR, the president’s emergency plan for AIDS relief, or the president’s malaria initiative in Africa, are policies that really came from him, I mean, that he felt like the United States could be effective by making sure a whole lot of people in Africa had the chance to get on antiretrovirals and literally save lives.
And my daughter Barbara was in Kenya and Rwanda this week. She went with the World Food Program. And I visited some World Food Program sites and PEPFAR sites.
And she said that when she was introduced, this made her weep. People would say your dad saved my life, because they’re very aware they’re getting antiretrovirals because of the president’s emergency plan which, of course, is funded by the American people, by the American taxpayer.
Chris Wallace: Nancy Reagan once told me that during her husband’s second term, she felt freer to go out to talk about public policy and her views on them, and you seem to be doing the same thing. Why is that?
Laura Bush: Well, I don’t know that it’s — I mean, I think I felt perfectly free during the first term as well to talk about whatever I was interested in. But I also think it took me a while to realize what a platform I had.
Every week, we take the best photo from the ONE Campus Challenge and toss it up on the ONE Blog. But this week, we raised the stakes and made the “photo of the week” worth 10 times more points. As a result we got some great submissions and we need your help deciding the winner.
Go here to vote for this week’s ONE Campus Challenge photo of the week.
ONE is campaigning to ensure that the Congressional budget does not cut foreign assistance programs like Feed the Future that help people break the cycle of poverty and hunger.
The Horn of Africa is experiencing its worst drought in 60 years. More than 11 million people, mostly nomadic pastoralists and farmers in south-central Somalia, north-eastern Kenya, and south-eastern Ethiopia, are severely lacking access to food.
2011 marks 30 years since the first cases of AIDS were documented. Take a closer look at the specific, achievable goals we must hit by 2015 to make this year the beginning of the end of AIDS.
As aid agencies warn more than 9 million people could be affected by a food crisis in East Africa, world leaders are failing to keep their 2009 promises to tackle the causes of chronic hunger and support farmers in the world's poorest countries.
