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

Announcing the launch of OCC TV, starring VJs Erin Eegan and Weldon Kennedy. As long as it gets picked up by the OCC station- I think you can expect to see more;)

Pilot Episode:

Episode 2:

Submitted in the ONE Campus Challenge.

Dylan from Hoffstra U:

An an unnamed dog from Boston U:

Good for 75 points each.

It was a thrill to have Mike McCurry in town last week. When Mike got off the plane Monday evening we marched him right across the street to our ONE Candidates Forum at the University of Nevada Las Vegas.

The forum was a great success. We invited representatives from every presidential campaign to speak to ONE volunteers and UNLV students about their candidates’ plans to fight poverty and global disease. Participation was great and it was fantastic for our volunteers to hear from each campaign. We signed up 30 new members and UNLV’s ONE club was able to recruit about a dozen new members as well.

Mike was our keynote speaker and discussed his advisory role with ONE and some of the amazing success stories ONE has witnessed since it’s inception. He highlighted how refreshing it is to be involved with a campaign that that unites people from all political parties, quite a change from his former role as White House Press Secretary.

The following day we ran all over town, from a press roundtable at R&R partners with Nevada’s ONE Vote 08 co-chair Billy Vassiliadis, to filming Face to Face with Jon Ralston. Mike finished up the day by speaking with UNLV Law School students and faculty. Over 45 students signed the declaration.

If only we could clone Mike and have him campaigning for ONE in NV every day.

-Matt Higginson

ONE members traveled to see Senator Joe Biden at a coffee shop in Iowa on Friday. After the senator delivered a speech, a couple ONE members and I had a chance to speak with him about ONE and debt relief.

Senator Biden pointed out that he took the lead on some of the first debt relief proposals in the Senate and continues to support debt relief to struggling countries. Before departing for his next stop he put on a band and posed for a quick picture.

-Wes Peterson, ONE Member, Iowa

On Monday the PACCAR Medical Education Center had a groundbreaking
ceremony in Chillicothe, Ohio. According to speakers at the ceremony,
the new educational facility will address such issues as advancements in
technology, the shortage in health care workers, economic development
and quality of life. It seemed to be a perfect setting to discuss our
efforts to achieve the Millennium Development Goals. I brought ONE
Chillicothe’s balladeer bard Josh Ray and Regional Organizer Katie
Andrews–together, we had a perfect trio to talk to Congressman Zack
Space, 18th District, Ohio, who was in attendance.

Congressman Space and his District Director Ken Engstrom sat down with
us and discussed the Child Survival Act, the Education For All Act and
the Jubilee Act.

Congressman Space said he agreed with the spirit of our cause and that
he would look over the information packet we gave him. He also said that
he became impressed with the ONE Campaign after Bono met with the
freshman of the 110th Congress, and that he is proud of the great work
that ONE Chillicothe members are doing in the 18th District.

-Chris Cooper, ONE Member in Chillicothe, OH

Students at Lincoln Christian College set up a Shantytown on their campus to draw attention to the living conditions of the world’s poor on the Oct 17 Global Day of Action Against Poverty. Ten students took turns “living” in the boxes throughout the day and reading the Stand Up pledge to fellow students and collecting signatures on the ONE Declaration.

By the end of the day they collected 130 signatures on the petition – more than 10% of their entire student body! The local paper also covered the event so the community could see how the students were taking a stand for our poorer neighbors.

-Annisa Wanat

On Monday, October 15, Las Vegas, Henderson, and North Las Vegas became the 123, 124, 125th “ONE Cities.”

While many may think of the Las Vegas Valley as “what happens here stays here” — Monday’s event proved otherwise. Our elected leaders stepped up to the plate and asked the over 2 million citizens of their respective cities to do the same.

Mayor Goodman of Las Vegas explained the reason he has become such an avid supporter, “I tell you that Las Vegas is a microcosm of the world – we welcome tourists and new residents from all over the world. We are doing our part today to add our collective voice to say enough is enough.”

Couldn’t have said it better myself!

-Megan Jones

Pictured above: Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman, Clark County Commission Lawrence Weekly, Henderson Mayor Gibson, Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce CEO Kara Kelley

The ONE Vote ‘08, South Carolina, Staff finally had an opportunity to meet with presidential hopeful, Governor Mitt Romney. He came to Columbia, SC, to host an open forum event.

We were not afforded an opportunity to ask a question publicly. However, after the event we were able to catch up with the governor. We thanked him for his kind words towards our Campaign across the country.

He responded, “Ah, yes, the ONE Campaign. Great group.”

We also were able to get a photo with Governor Romney. We told him we look forward to his next visit to South Carolina and that he can expect to see us at his future SC stops.

- Wes Mishoe, SC Field Director

We often use our voices to tell our elected officials to support anti-global poverty legislation that is months or even years in the making. But today is different. Today we can take action on a critical international situation ripped from the headlines.

As the Financial Times reports:

The International Monetary Fund faced harsh criticism on Thursday for failing to meet its commitment to write off $800m in debt owed by Liberia, as Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, the country’s leader, met US president George W. Bush in Washington.

And from the BBC:

Forgiveness of the old debt would allow the IMF to issue new development loans.

Correspondents say it is widely agreed that Liberia’s arrears should be paid off, but there is still some wrangling about the financial details.

This broken promise of debt relief threatens the future of Liberia, a country struggling to make democracy work after a bloody civil war, and lift its people out of poverty.

Send an email to the International Monetary Fund today and tell them to keep their promise and forgive the debt.

Today, Liberia is on the right path. In 2006, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf became the first African woman to be elected a head of state. She is an expert on development—she worked for the World Bank and UN Development Program—and on Liberia’s recent troubled history, having been jailed twice and driven into exile for opposing a repressive government.

It is an outrage that 18 months have passed since the IMF committed to writing off Liberia’s debt. Send a message to the IMF and let them know that as a citizen of the fund’s largest donor country—you know that the time for action is now.

-Josh Peck, ONE.org