Over the weekend Florida ONE Members gathered in Miami at the first ONE Membership Conference to raise their voices on behalf of the world’s poorest people. Participants traveled from all over Florida and even parts of Alabama to take part in the event. It was inspiring to see so many new and familiar faces turn out for the day and to brainstorm with such an amazing group of people on how we can become more effective poverty fighting advocates!

ONE’s President and CEO David Lane kicked off the conference with a warm welcome, encouraging each of us to continue our work to help the world’s poorest people. As a native Floridian, David was excited to see so many people from his home state dedicated to making a difference.

I promise you, I could give a hundred speeches that are not as important as ONE member Paula Diaz’ visit to Rep. Kendrick Meek’s office or Rafael Batista’s efforts to grab Governor Crist at an event and tell him about ONE or the Miami contingent’s leadership on World AIDS Day or the generosity of Orlando’s Northland Church for opening its doors and letting us in to tell our story. There are many more examples, but long story short: This is what advocacy is all about. This is how we give voice to the voiceless.

Check out the full remarks from ONE CEO David Lane here (part 1) and here (part 2).

At the end of the day I met so many interesting people and am excited about the momentum we have building in the state to make poverty history! I especially want to thank everyone who made it out to the event and to our fantastic group of volunteers that made the day possible.

-Sara Paterni, FL ONE