Sen. McCain hosted a town hall meeting with Red Sox pitching ace Curt Schilling last week. I went with some ONE members to make sure that the poorest people on Earth were represented here in the cold and snowy Granite State.
When we got there, I noticed Sean who volunteers for McCain and always wears his ONE band. ONE member Andrea, spoke with the McCain Blogettes, Megan and La-Toria who said that they love the ONE Campaign. Meghan McCain said that she wears her ONE band all the time.
Although we were unable to ask a question about how Sen. McCain would fight global malaria - death from a bug bite that kills over a million people each year, mostly in Africa, and mostly children - we were able to talk with both Sen. McCain and Curt Schilling after the event. Andrea explained the ONE Campaign to Curt and gave him a ONE band.
Sen. McCain complemented ONE and said that he sees ONE everywhere.
December 13th, 2007 at 10:31 am | posted by Erin Erlenborn, ONE Policy Staff
The Dorgan-Grassley Amendment to the Farm Bill just missed having enough votes to pass the Senate. It needed 60 votes and fell short by just 4 votes. So close.
December 12th, 2007 at 4:02 pm | posted by Erin Erlenborn, ONE Policy Staff
There has been a threat to filibuster the Dorgan-Grassley Amendment to the Farm Bill. Now the amendment needs 60 votes instead of 50, which will make it much harder to pass.
Currently the vote is scheduled for 9:15 AM tomorrow. Please take a moment to call your senator now.
Capitol switchboard: (202) 224-3121
Sample phone script:
I am from [location]. I support farm bill reform. As a voter and member of the ONE Campaign, I urge Senator [name] to vote ‘YES’ on the Dorgan-Grassley Payment Limits Amendment. This amendments provide real reform that will help struggling farmers in America and around the world.
December 12th, 2007 at 1:35 pm | posted by Josh Chernila, ONE Online Communities Coordinator
Los Angeles: Trained
This past Saturday ONE volunteers came out for an advocacy training in Los Angeles. Hosted at the University of Southern California, over 65 people gave up some holiday shopping time to come out and learn how they can make a difference in the fight against extreme poverty.
Volunteers learned about ONE’s history and mission as well as coming together to brainstorm and plan future ONE LA activities. There were some great ideas on how to recruit new members to the campaign, educate their community on the issues of global poverty, and encouraging the presidential candidates to be leaders in the fight for the world’s poorest people. Amy Quinn, one of LA’s most active volunteers, said that, “It was so exciting to see so many new faces at the training, 2008 will be the best yet for ONE LA!”
ONE’s allies CARE and Heifer International were also present at the event, sending representatives to share their unique stories with attendees. John Bostick, who along with his wife was named Heifer International’s “Volunteers of the Year” for their region, spoke at the training. John spoke of Heifer’s innovative programs to fight hunger and poverty around the world and the amazing effect of “Passing on the Gift.” When Heifer International provides an animal to a family it not only provides an income, food, and self sufficiency but the family also gives offspring to others in need within their community. This creates a cycle of sustainability that usually provides animals, knowledge, and skills to five or six families for each initial animal that is given.
Edward Kibirige from CARE also spoke about the organization’s work in the developing world and their special emphasis on women as part of their “I Am Powerful” Campaign. Women and children are disproportionately affected by extreme poverty and focusing on helping women lift themselves out of poverty can create lasting change in their communities. Edward also asked attendees to try and consider living on one dollar a day and how daunting it would feel to try and raise your family with so few resources. He noted that no one would have been able to attend the training that day because travel and parking cost well over one dollar.
All in all, the training was a success! Volunteers came together to find out how they can make a difference in the fight against extreme poverty and they found out that working together as ONE, we really can make poverty history!
December 12th, 2007 at 12:07 pm | posted by Erin Erlenborn, ONE Policy Staff
Today or tomoorrow, the Senate is expected to vote on the Dorgan-Grassley Payment Limits Amendment to the Farm Bill. If passed, the amendment would help create a level playing field for small, family farmers by closing loopholes that in the past have skewed funding to the largest producers.
Please take a moment to call your senator and ask him or her to support the Dorgan-Grassley Amendment.
Capitol switchboard: (202) 224-3121
Sample phone script:
I am from [location]. I support Farm Bill reform. As a voter and member of the ONE Campaign, I urge Senator [name] to vote ‘YES’ on the Dorgan-Grassley Payment Limits Amendment. This amendment would provide real reform that will help struggling farmers in America and around the world.
Thank you.
Also, just as an update, the Lugar-Lautenberg Farm Ranch Equity Stewardship and Health (FRESH) Amendment failed to pass the Senate yesterday. (Vote was 37 to 58.) We knew the FRESH Act was a long shot, but it was worth fighting for because it would have provided real reform and helped millions of people living in extreme poverty.
December 10th, 2007 at 3:23 pm | posted by ONE.Partners
About a month ago, we asked you to take action on the farm bill. Thousands of you made phone calls to your senators urging broad reform of the farm bill. Yet, the senate was delayed in taking action. After many false starts, the senate is likely to begin voting on amendments to the farm bill on Tuesday, December 11.
Even if you’ve called before, please take the time to call again. This may be our last chance to impact our senators.
On Friday, November 30th, I joined the ONE-Supporting Band “Building a Better Spaceship” (Vinn Lombardo, Adam Holt, Rick Johnson, Ross Facundo and Paul Funk) and ONE member Stephanie Pettit at the Second Annual Music Festival Benefiting the Orphans and Widows of Uganda at the Hermosa Beach Play House.
ONE Spokane leader Kelly Kiki flew down to LA to speak at the benefit about his work with I have to say, it was amazing to meet another team leader and I was inspired by his commitment to fighting poverty and educating children, in particular.
Hope 4 Kids International (a ONE Partner Organization) strives to restore the dignity stripped away from innocent children that are suffering through extreme poverty and disease. Hope 4 Kids International sponsors over 1300 AIDS orphans and needy children in these communities.
When I heard it was a music festival I just had to get Building a Better Spaceship involved. The band, who are Hermosa Beach regulars and in 2005 were named ‘Best New Band’ in the US, besting over 200 acts from all genres of music in 12 major markets are ONE Supporters and had been looking for a way to become more involved (especially, drummer Adam, who is an ardent ONE Member). It was a fantastic turnout and a good opportunity to raise awareness. I spoke to more than 50 people about the advocacy work of ONE and everyone seemed very keen to learn more and sign the ONE Declaration.
On Saturday morning I attended a rally for Governor Mike Huckabee at Lizard’s Thicket (yes, this is a restaurant!) in Columbia, SC. It was our first encounter with the Governor since he went “On The Record” for ONE.
I thanked him for participating. He told me that he enjoyed the opportunity and said that making the presidential candidates go on the record about our issues is a great idea. Although we were not able to take a photo with him, we did present him another ONE band, which he gladly accepted it.
December 7th, 2007 at 3:15 pm | posted by Josh Chernila, ONE Online Communities Coordinator
Here’s a quick reminder that tomorrow, December 8 the ONE Field Team will be conducting grassroots training sessions in the LA, Philadelphia, and Detroit areas.
Click the names of the cities for more information or to RSVP.
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.
On Friday, November 30th, I joined the ONE-Supporting Band “Building a Better Spaceship” (Vinn Lombardo, Adam Holt, Rick Johnson, Ross Facundo and Paul Funk) and ONE member Stephanie Pettit at the Second Annual Music Festival Benefiting the Orphans and Widows of Uganda at the Hermosa Beach Play House. 
Hope 4 Kids International (a ONE Partner Organization) strives to restore the dignity stripped away from innocent children that are suffering through extreme poverty and disease. Hope 4 Kids International sponsors over 1300 AIDS orphans and needy children in these communities.
