The Church in Ocean Park began our ONE Sabbath event with Joy Buckley, one of our resident poets, reading the Millennium Development Goals as they appear on the ONE.org website. The Millennium Development Goals set a framework for how nations can work together to end extreme poverty. Then Ron Maxson read a quote about poverty being a justice issue.

The first to speak after the readings was Bob Gordh who discussed The End of Poverty by Jeffrey Sachs. Rev. Janet McKeithen talked about the spiritual dimensions of poverty and ONE. I rounded out the presentations talking about ONE successes and what we can all do. This included signing the ONE Declaration, participating in the LA ONE Volunteer and Advocacy Training on December 8, and the World Swim Against Malaria on April 5 (where we will take to the water in fancy dress again).

A number of people responded thoughtfully during the community sharing. We sang several songs throughout, led by Elinor Graham and Bob Gordh singing Bob Marley’s “One Love”.

-Herley Jim Bowling, Santa Monica ONE Group Leader

If you haven’t seen it already, this is the new ONE.org TV ad – running now in Iowa and NH and across the nation on cable networks.

Just as an added note, my mom lives in NH and says she sees it on TV all the time. Hopefully this will help introduce hundreds of thousands more people to ONE and get more people to take note of ONE’s “On The Record” site.

-Virginia Simmons

Yesterday, the House passed the FY08 omnibus bill that included significant increases in funding for extreme poverty and global disease programs.

If passed by the Senate later today, FYO8 spending would include over 7 billion on global health programs, which will literally make the difference between life and death for millions of people.

Some additional highlights from the bill below:

• Basic education: The federal government will provide $694 million for grants to organizations that support basic education programs around the world. An
  estimated 72 million children worldwide lack access to basic education.
• Access to safe drinking water: With $298 million allocated for safe water programs, this legislation will enable high-priority countries to provide
  safe drinking water, build water systems and implement hygiene programs.
• Child and maternal health: The funding would provide $450 million dedicated to improving child and maternal health. Everyday, 27,000 children die from preventable, treatable diseases such as diarrhea, pneumonia and measles. Additional funding for child and maternal health programs will provide effective, affordable preventative measures such as immunizations, antibiotics, clean drinking water and vitamin supplements.

-Virginia Simmons

We had a couple of great opportunities to meet with the Obama campaign last week.

On Monday, Senator Obama was in Las Vegas to rally students and young voters. During the event he spoke about the need to help the world’s poor by fighting HIV AIDS and educating children who don’t have access to free education.

After Obama spoke I was able to shake his hand and thank him for going “on the record” for ONE. He said, “Absolutely, I was happy to do it. It’s important.”

On Saturday the Obama campaign and the ONE UNLV Club held a foreign policy forum with Samantha Power. Samantha is the Pulitzer Prize-winning author, a professor at Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government, and a senior advisor for Senator Obama.

She spoke extensively about US foreign policy, Darfur, and about the ONE Campaign’s goals to eradicate extreme poverty and disease. Many of our volunteers were able attend and engage in a great discussion about why the issues of global disease, hunger, child & maternal health, and education should be a priority for the next president.

Samantha had just returned from speaking to our fellow ONE members in South Carolina and we were happy that she took some time to visit us in Nevada as well!

-Matt Higginson

On Friday night I attended Senator John McCain’s meet-and-greet at an American Legion Post on James Island. The Senator spoke for more than twenty minutes, and at one point, he paused and pointed me out to the crowd.

I was handed a microphone and the opportunity to explain to over 100 people what the ONE Campaign is, and why we are involved in the election process. Senator McCain thanked us for what we are doing for this country and the cause that we are so adamantly pursuing.

-Jesse Pruitt, SC Volunteer Coordinator, ONE Vote ‘08

College students, politicians, pastors, even grandmothers are wearing the white ONE band. To illustrate the diversity of ONE, I decided to start a Facebook group called “Who’s Wearing the White ONE Band?” to highlight just who ONE is.

Posted photos include ONE CEO David Lane and other ONE staffers, pastors Brian McLaren. Jim Wallis, and Bread for the World president, David Beckmann, former Senate Majority leader Bill Frist, presidential hopeful Senator Barack Obama, US Representatives Republican Spencer Bachus and Democrat Artur Davis, rockers Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam, Heart’s Nancy Wilson, and newcomer Preston Lovingood of Wild Sweet Orange.

These are just some of the famous faces who have donned the white ONE band as an outward sign of their support for the movement. But, you’ll also see the school teacher who learned about ONE at a concert, the grandmother who got her ONE band at an AIDS walk, and the college student who was introduced to ONE at an Oxfam hunger banquet.

Take a picture of yourself, your friends, your family wearing the white ONE band, join the Facebook group, and post your pictures. Invite others to join. Let’s start a symbolic chain of white ONE bands that spreads across America.

-Elaine Van Cleave, Bread for the World and ONE Campaign member

I attended an event with Senator Biden was at Jamison’s Irish restaurant in downtown Waterloo, IA, this week. The room was filled with supporters as they sat around tables eating lunch. The senator walked around greeting people before taking the podium. He talked about how America has the potential to change the world, and his foreign policy experience. “We do not have to make up crisis, because they are already there,” the senator said.

When it was time to ask questions, I raised my hand and he handed me the microphone. It was my first encounter since he went on “On The Record” . First, I thanked him for his commitment to fighting poverty, malaria, HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis. I also shared with him the fact that after the Rwandan genocide that took the lives of almost 1 million people including my parents, another genocide is currently taking place in Darfur, then I asked him what he would do to stop it.

He told me that he has traveled abroad more than any other candidate has, including Chad and Sudan, and that he has seen the suffering first hand. He told the story how he was able to get women together in Chad to hear their stories. “When I asked if they knew anyone who had been raped, the answer was shocking, they all raised hands,” the senator said. He told the audience that he wrote the International Violence Against Women Act to protect abused women who cannot defend themselves.

Before leaving for an interview, he posed for a picture and said that he is always happy to see ONE members in the audience because “you represent the reality.”

-Natalie Sugira

A note from ONE member Joe Ehrke to Regional Organizer Katie Andrews. Joe was one of 42 people who attended a full-day ONE training in Michigan on Saturday.

“…I also would like to take the opportunity to thank you for everything I learned from you and the other speakers. I learned so much from basic understanding of what my power is as a citizen, which my public education fail to effectively teach me, to specifics of the ONE Campaign to which I have actively began to gain a deeper understanding. This is a worth wild battle, Thanks for the tools to stand with the many supporters of ONE!!!

Thanks so much!!!

Joe Ehrke

This Saturday in Plymouth, MI, 42 ONE members from the area came together to learn more about ONE’s issues and ways to get more involved. With some help from my pals Annisa Wanat (ONE Field Organizer in Chicago), Monét Cooper (Communications Coordinator for Jubilee USA) and several very active RESULTS volunteers from the area, our training was a great success. Not only was this an educational opportunity but it was also a great way for members to see others that are passionate about making a difference in the world.

Sometimes it’s easy to forget that there are over 2.4 million ONE members out there. If you want to connect with other members in your community, contact your region’s ONE field organizer. Events and activities are much easier to plan when you’ve got some help.

-Katie Andrews, ONE Regional Organizer

We met with Senator John McCain in North Augusta. SC, on Tuesday. Attorney General Henry McMaster and our Senator Lindsey Graham also attended the event. We thanked Senator McCain for going on-the-record. He thanked us in response and said that he enjoyed the opportunity.

-Wes Mishoe