ONE members meet up with their elected officials

Mar 24th, 2009 11:46 AM UTC
By Ian McGroarty

If you’ve been following the ONE blog recently, prepare to be amazed. As previously mentioned, seen, and celebrated, more ONE volunteers across the country are visiting their members of Congress to introduce (or reintroduce) ONE and request a formal meeting. How can we possibly visit all these members of Congress in a matter of days? There’s no Santa Claus-esque secret here, it’s simply through the efforts of our incredible volunteers. See what they had to say about their visits!

-Ian McGroarty, US Field Intern

Today Rick Waterhouse and I delivered a ONE information package to the office of Rep. Frank Kratovil for District 1 of Maryland. We left the information with his District Office Assistant, Sharon Addison, and we requested a future meeting with the Congressman. Rick and I briefly introduced ONE to Sharon. I am looking forward to meeting directly with Rep. Kratovil and his staff in order to inform them about the work ONE is doing around global poverty and disease, and to encourage Rep. Kratovil to take ONE’s message to the next level.

-Caitlan Quinn, ONE Volunteer: Baltimore, MD

Brooke Curnow and I met with Rep. Chaffetz’s District Manager, Jennifer Scott, and delivered the packet. The delivery went well. We will make a future appointment to meet with Rep. Chaffetz.

-Nancy Kelly, ONE Volunteer: Pleasant Grove, UT

On Tuesday, March 17, three of us met at the district office of Congressman Leonard Lance in Westfield, New Jersey. We were escorted into a large room with a conference table and spoke to the Congressman’s Deputy Chief of Staff. We introduced ourselves and I spoke briefly about ONE and its priorities. We came away with a form to send in for an appointment in May or June when the Congressman is back in New Jersey.

Perhaps the best moments were after we left the office and took some time to chat outside. We agreed it was good to see other ONE faces after participating in ONE only by e-mail for so long, we divided up some local organizations to contact about ONE, and we thought we would explore forming a local ONE chapter.

-Brock Haussamen, ONE Volunteer: Bound Brook, NJ

My wife and I were finally able to deliver our information to the district office of Representative Etheridge this afternoon. While the office itself was extremely hectic we were able to drop off the information and get clarification on scheduling a face-to-face district meeting with Representative Etheridge or a member of the staff. It was an important first step in what we hope is the development of a strong advocate for the ONE campaign.

-Nate Smith, ONE Volunteer: Clayton, NC

On the morning of March 19th, I delivered a ONE information packet to U.S. Senator Patty Murray’s district office in Vancouver, Washington. Senator Murray is a member of the Budget Committee and a participant in setting the budget for FY 2010, which includes money for poverty-related issues. I met with Theresa Wagner, the SW Washington Director for Sen. Murray. We had a nice chat. I gave her the ONE packet and she gave me her card.

-Jeff Hollett, ONE Volunteer: Vancouver, WA

Sound exciting? Then get involved! What better way to shake up your day than joining the fight against extreme poverty and preventable disease? Email us at one@one.org to find out more information on how to deliver a ONE packet to your member of Congress.

TAGS: From ONE Members, ONE