Archive for October, 2007
Oct 26th, 2007 10:27 AM UTC
By Field
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!
Nora Tobin, President of Iowa State ONE chapter
Oct 26th, 2007 10:11 AM UTC
By Field
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!! -
- Katie Jerabek
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.
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!
- Kelli Schwertfeger, San Francisco ONE Member
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.
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!”
A few more pics from LA AIDS Walk 2007 below.
-Tiffany Lemieux, L.A. ONE member
Oct 25th, 2007 11:25 AM UTC
By Field
United Nations Day, the anniversary of the entry into force of the United Nations Charter on 24 October 1945, has been celebrated since 1948. It has traditionally been marked throughout the world by meetings, discussions and exhibits on the achievements and goals of the U.N. In 1971, the General Assembly recommended that member states observe it as a public holiday.
Yesterday, the United Nations Association – Columbus Chapter held their own local event in honor of UN Day. The event brought together local NGO’s, students and faculty from the area – including the ONE Campaign – OSU Chapter. The event focused on the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the global fight against HIV and AIDS, and current World Health Organization initiatives.
Carol Welch from the Millennium Campaign, another partner of ONE, was a featured speaker at the event. Along with educating the audience about the MDGs, Ms. Welch encouraged attendees to get involved with ONE and ONE Vote ’08 in order to create the political will necessary to achieve these goals.
With the presence of three partner organizations, the event helped to emphasize the effectiveness of working together to educate our communities about global poverty and disease. You, too, can partner locally with ONE partners or local NGOs. Check out our partner page to see the full list of our national partners which has grown to over 150 organizations—many groups have local chapters or may be based in your state.
-Katie Andrews, ONE Regional Organizer
