How does one find the words to express what came into fruition in Miami on October 13th? Was it amazing? No, we had the will; we knew we could do it. Was it magical? Well, there certainly was something very thrilling about taking the thread of an idea and weaving it into a reality.

About two months ago a group of ambitious ONEsters met on a weekly basis to plan what became a successful event for the eradication of poverty and the re-emergence of ONE Miami. Different teams worked on various aspects of the event, from advertising to entertainment. One thing that I found particularly striking, was all of the resources we have right here in our community. When you look at how quickly we were able to put this impressive event together, it makes you wonder what more we can do. What are the limits of our capabilities? Imagine if we all pooled our resources together, what positive changes we could make in the world. Do we have the will?

Miami’s Stand Up to Make Poverty History, hosted by ONE Miami in Bayfront Park, was an evening for the community to come together, listen to live music, and hold an open forum to discuss not only what is being done to reduce extreme poverty worldwide, but also to talk about what more we can do to expedite the solution. About 1000-1500 people walked down the Bayfront promenade to come to our event. We gained about 200 new members to the ONE Miami team in probably our most successful gathering to date. We met representatives from local schools who intend to bring the message of the ONE Campaign to their campuses. We were able to develop deeper relationships with our partner organizations.

The highlight of our evening was the creation of a large ONE Human logo followed by the STAND UP declaration where hundreds stood up at once to declare our support for the eradication of poverty. In addition, a very large ONE declaration was rolled along the promenade. It was here that attendees filled it up with messages of hope and conviction in the belief that the ONE goals are attainable. Most importantly, the people of Miami came together to show the world that we have the desire to eliminate poverty. Do we have the will? We certainly do!

Danielle Depas, ONEmiami
www.onecampaignmiami.com