“‘Matty – I think Obama is going to be at Peddler’s Daughter in a few minutes’.

This is what ONE member Brandon Laws told me Monday night when he called me after hearing that Sen. Obama may stop into a Nashua, NH, local pub. Although the stop was not a publicly scheduled campaign stop, Brandon Laws used his ears to find a way to advocate for the poorest people on Earth.

So we rushed down to the Nashua pub, the same pub where a few months ago, we caught Sen. Durbin in wearing his ONE shirt, and sure enough, a few minutes later…in walked Sen. Obama.

As Sen. Obama made his way around the bar, shaking hands and talking with voters, I noticed that a few other patrons were already ONE members and volunteers. Always good to see!

Sen. Obama made his way over to us and Brandon told him that he was a member of the ONE Campaign and thanked Sen. Obama for recently talking about US efforts to fight malaria in Africa. Sen. Obama was very appreciative and when he went to pose for a picture with Brandon, he stopped us. He told me, “Don’t you have a ONE band for me to wear?” I laughed and pulled a ONE band from my pocket and Sen. Obama immediately put it on and wore it for the rest of the night.

I told Sen. Obama how there is a growing movement here, of Americans that want to see our nation do all that we can to end extreme poverty and save millions of lives with a new and fresh young Africa. He told me I was exactly right and that the ONE Campaign was doing amazing work.

By uniting as ONE, and using our voice…and our ears, we have the ability to articulate the change we want to see in the world. From the Main Streets, to the churches, to the family dinner tables, and the local bars and clubs…you never know where you are going to find the ONE Campaign.

-Matthew Bartlett, ONE Regional Organizer