The Obama rally at Union Station in St. Louis, MO, went great on Saturday! 7 ONE Webster students went in ONE shirts and ONE Webster students Alex Cruz and Ellie Curran were interviewed by Fox Channel 2. I managed to work my way to the barrier by the side stage to band Representative Clay and Representative Carnahan. After the rally we caught up with Obama, but he said he already had a ONE band, so ONE Webster member Mark Albrecht gave him his T-shirt.
Two of our members, Sandra Lemenaite and her friend, arrived early and were packed into the very front of the crowd behind the barrier directly in front of the stage. I passed their T-shirts through the crowd to them. Afterwards, Sandra told me that they were packed in so tight that they had to get help from the people around them to slip the shirts over their jackets. One lady who helped them happened to be a ONE member and showed Sandra her ONE band.
The atmosphere there was charged with enthusiasm for the next election. We can’t wait for the next presidential candidate to come to town. Extreme poverty must be an issue in the 2008 election!
-Nick Stevens, OCC Regional Outreach Ambassador, co-chairman of ONE Saint Louis, and President of ONE Webster
It was a privilege to be at the ONE Campaign luncheon on Monday, October 15, at Noah’s Ark restaurant in Des Moines, Iowa. The guest speaker from Kenya, Fidelis Gathoni Wainaina, is a remarkable woman of faith, courage, and hope. Her faith has led her into direct ministry in her homeland with mothers who are living with HIV/AIDS and their children. God has also given her the oppotunity to give voice to the voiceless with dignataries such as the General Secretary of the United Nations, and the Canadian Parliament.
I can’t imagine the slightest division for Fidelis between her inward faith in Jesus Christ and her ministry among people living in extreme poverty. They are not two parts of her faith. She knows only one Lord, one faith, one God and Father of us all.
In meeting Fidelis I was reminded for Christians there are not two Churches, or at least should not be — the church of the global north and the church of the global south. There is only one Body of Christ, of which we are all brothers and sisters in the Lord. Fidelis’ witness is a call from God to greater compassion, greater prayer, greater faith, and greater action together until with God’s help we make poverty history and eliminate HIV/AIDS completely.
-Gary Nims, Pastor, Immauel United Methodist Church, Des Moines, Iowa
Rudy Giuliani was at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa, on Oct 17, holding a town hall meeting with more than 400 students and community members. Rudy spoke about his plans for healthcare and the economy and took questions from the crowd.
I was able to ask: “There are over 38 million people in the world living with HIV/AIDS, what is your plan to fight this global epidemic?”
Giuliani expressed interest in increasing funding to foreign nations for this battle. He then proceeded to mention the ONE Campaign, put on his glasses to see all the ONE shirts in the crowd, and recognized the ONE Campaign for doing good work and for having the power to bring Democrats and Republicans together to support a great common cause.
October 26th, 2007 at 11:15 am | posted by ONE.Partners
Last Sunday, more than 1,200 people walked to end hunger at the 25th Annual Chicago CROP Hunger Walk to support the hunger-fighting efforts of ONE Partner Church World Service.
An unusually warm day for the city this time of year, walkers took their “Stop Hunger” signs on a route that included both neighborhoods and the lake front. Volunteers from the ONE Campaign also attended to collect signatures for the declaration as well as for a petition for Senator Durbin, asking him to co-sponsor the Jubilee Act.
Walkers linked their names together with signed petitions asking for Sen. Durbin to help “break the chains” of poverty. Upon returning from their meander, walkers also signed a “thank you” sign for Senator Obama for his leadership in co-sponsoring the Jubilee Act. Then, the Jesse White tumblers, all donned ONE bracelets and performed their acrobatics for the jubilant crowd.
Funds raised here in Chicago and in CROP Hunger Walks across the U.S. will make a difference in the lives of people in some 80 countries around the world - from working with AIDS orphans in Africa, to aiding farm families in Central America, and even assisting Indiana tornado survivors and Katrina hurricane survivors here in the States. CROP Walks truly are “Communities Responding to Overcome Poverty.”
-Tessa Barnes, Congregational Outreach Coordinator, Church World Service, Great Rivers/Chicago Office and ONE member www.cropwalk.org
On Wednesday night, Senator Hillary Clinton spoke at Iowa State University. The lecture focused on the role of women in politics and society. The senator talked about the importance of education for all and equal rights for women, whether they live in the United States or Afghanistan.
Several ONE members were in the crowd, proudly wearing ONE shirts and wristbands. After the lecture, Sen. Clinton greeted students individually. Tyler Barrett, treasurer of the ONE Campaign at ISU, shook the senator’s hand and when she saw his T-shirt, Sen. Clinton commented on her support of the ONE Campaign.
While I was waiting in line, I had a chance to chat with Christie Vilsack, the former first lady of Iowa, who said she would be happy to wear a ONE band. A few minutes later, I got to meet Sen Clinton too, and asked her to wear a ONE wristband, which she was happy to do! She then posed for a picture with me and continued shaking hands while wearing the ONE band!
On Saturday, I had the opportunity to attend an Ecumenical Poverty Summit hosted by the Iowa United Methodist Conference. This was a day-long event focused on ending poverty among children in Iowa, and teaching activists to engage the presidential candidates on the issues. In the morning, we heard from Rev. Rudy Rasmus, who shared about the need to take care of oneself, in order to care for others. It was quite inspiring. Sen. Harkin was also in attendance, and made a point to stop and say hi on his way out the door.
The afternoon was taken by up lessons on how to advocate for the issues (most of the stuff ONE is already doing!!) and representatives from several candidates shared thoughts and plans from Barack Obama, John McCain, and John Edwards. Republican candidate John Cox personally attended. The Obama and McCain surrogates both wore ONE bands while they were speaking!
The afternoon closed in worship and prayer. It was a great event for ONE to host a table at. We met lots of great contacts, and renewed relationships with others. We only signed up 5 new members, but that’s because most everyone there is already a ONE member!! -
October 26th, 2007 at 9:51 am | posted by Virginia Simmons
During the last two weeks, ONE members sent more than 48,000 letters and made 4,200 calls to their members of Congress urging them to support the Jubilee Act.
Before we took these thousands of actions, there was a Jubilee bill in the House with just 52 cosponsors, and no companion bill in the Senate.
Now, after Jubilee USA and ONE’s campaigns, 27 more representatives have signed on to cosponsor the Jubilee Act in the House, the Senate has introduced a companion bill and 10 key senators have signed on to cosponsor it.
You can see the full list of representatives and senators who have shown their support by cosponsoring here and here on Thomas.loc.gov.
If your representative or either of your state’s senators are signed on, please thank them using our online tool.
If your representative’s or either of your senators’ names aren’t on the list, there’s still plenty you can do to encourage them.
1.) Write a letter to your members of Congress.
2.) Call their office. All the talking points you need are here.
3.) Write a letter to the editor to your local paper about unjust debt in the developing world and the Jubilee Act.
4.) Schedule a meeting with your representative’s state or DC office. Email giveyourtime@one.org for all the resources you’ll need.
Use the comment thread below to let us know if your representative and senators have signed on yet - and to add your ideas or questions about how to get their support for this critical bill.
October 25th, 2007 at 3:53 pm | posted by Josh Chernila, ONE Online Communities Coordinator
On Sunday, October 21, 2007, 14 volunteers walked the Silicon Valley AIDS Walk in San Jose, California for ONE. The weather was beautiful and the 6.2 mile route took us through Discovery Meadow in Downtown San Jose. Walkers and their sponsors raised over $170,000 to fight AIDS.
While checking in at the registration tables, the AIDS Walk volunteers were thrilled to see ONE members participating in the event and we were thrilled that they already knew about the ONE Campaign. They loved our signs (thanks to Jamie for making the extra big one!) which served as a great conversation starter about ONE.org. The local ONE team supported the local fight against AIDS by raising over $700 for the AIDS Emergency Fund while supporting the global fight against AIDS by increasing awareness about the ONE Campaign.
ONE members, Kelli Schwertfeger (of Sunnyvale) and her sister, Wendy Quattlebaum (of San Carlos) were co-captains of the team and would like to thank their team members for walking for ONE: Jamie Miller, Lamont Quattlebaum, L.J. Quattlebaum, Kayla Quattlebaum, Barry Miller, Harry Adams, Megan Brody, David Brody, Esmay Brody, Jake Moffat, Beth Dubose, and Mya Moffat. Extra props to Megan Brody for walking while 7 months pregnant!
October 25th, 2007 at 12:36 pm | posted by Virginia Simmons
ONE, the newspaper the Politico, the University of Central Arkansas, the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Washing are teaming up to launch the national “ONE Student | ONE Vote” today, an unprecedented initiative to motivate students to become politically active global citizens. Right now, ONE’s Kimberly Cadena, Chandler Smith, Sheena Arora and Erin Eagan are on the ground in Arkansas to help the already strong crew down there pull off the first ONE Student | ONE Vote event.
Jim VandeHei, executive editor and co-founder of the Politico, will moderate the conversation at the 1:30 p.m. ONE Student ONE Vote forum. Panel members include UCA President Lu Hardin; author and national security expert Jeffrey Laurenti with the Century Foundation; Dr. Elaine Fox, a professor with great knowledge of Central America and the needs in that region; UCA students and others. Students will provide questions for the panel beforehand as well as throughout the event.
Next ONE Student ONE Vote events:
University of Pennsylvania on November 1
University of Washington on November 8.
October 25th, 2007 at 12:25 pm | posted by Josh Chernila, ONE Online Communities Coordinator
On Sunday, October 21st, thousands of Angelinos gathered on the streets of West Hollywood in an effort to raise awareness and money for AIDS programs. The day was gorgeous with 80 degree weather and blue skies (Little did we know that L.A. was burning all around us). The energy was high and the excitement was contagious as the AIDS Walk volunteers cheered us on and reminded us of how important our efforts are and the many lives we are affecting.
With our ONE.org signs raised high and wearing our ONE T-shirts, the LA ONE.org team was united as we made our way down the route. Passing the West Hollywood cheerleaders, members of the community there to cheer us on and hosts from local radio stations, ONE.org got a lot of “shout-outs” along the walk. Folks even yelled out: “I’m a ONE member!” The best part was when folks asked us “What is ONE?” allowing us the chance to share what the ONE Campaign is all about.
On another topic, fellow ONE.org member Candace Cheong and myself attended an EDUN event in Los Angeles on October 17th (a few days before the AIDS walk) where we were able to purchase the new ONE T-shirt by the socially-responsible company EDUN and speak with EDUN founder Ali Hewson. We asked Ali if she had any words of wisdom for the fellow ONE.org walkers in the AIDS Walk. She said: “Don’t get blisters!”
The ONE Blog is a daily log of the anti-poverty movement. The site is operated by ONE staff, volunteers, members and coalition partners.
The content of each post and each comment represent the views of that author and does not necessarily reflect the views of the ONE Campaign or ONE Action. ONE does not support or oppose any candidate for elected office, and any posts expressing support or opposition for a candidate is not endorsed by ONE.
Two of our members, Sandra Lemenaite and her friend, arrived early and were packed into the very front of the crowd behind the barrier directly in front of the stage. I passed their T-shirts through the crowd to them. Afterwards, Sandra told me that they were packed in so tight that they had to get help from the people around them to slip the shirts over their jackets. One lady who helped them happened to be a ONE member and showed Sandra her ONE band.
While checking in at the registration tables, the AIDS Walk volunteers were thrilled to see ONE members participating in the event and we were thrilled that they already knew about the ONE Campaign. They loved our signs (thanks to Jamie for making the extra big one!) which served as a great conversation starter about ONE.org. The local ONE team supported the local fight against AIDS by raising over $700 for the AIDS Emergency Fund while supporting the global fight against AIDS by increasing awareness about the ONE Campaign. 
ONE members, Kelli Schwertfeger (of Sunnyvale) and her sister, Wendy Quattlebaum (of San Carlos) were co-captains of the team and would like to thank their team members for walking for ONE: Jamie Miller, Lamont Quattlebaum, L.J. Quattlebaum, Kayla Quattlebaum, Barry Miller, Harry Adams, Megan Brody, David Brody, Esmay Brody, Jake Moffat, Beth Dubose, and Mya Moffat. Extra props to Megan Brody for walking while 7 months pregnant! 
