“Citizen Power” meeting with Congressman Perriello
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A group of ONE volunteers from Charlottesville, Va., visited with our new congressman, Tom Perriello, while he was in district and had a great discussion on global poverty. We came out of the meeting with a commitment from Rep. Perriello to the goal of eliminating extreme poverty across the globe, as well as a video testimonial on the work of ONE to make that dream a reality.
We spoke of our passion to fight poverty and preventable disease, explaining the varying personal and faith perspectives that united us as advocates at the table. The Rev. David Poist noted that his congregation is a member of ONE, and offered biblical grounding for the work we were asking Rep. Perriello to support.
We also delivered a stack of letters from 5th District constituents to the congressman asking him to support the Initiating Foreign Assistance Reform Act, H.R. 2139. As I gave him the letters, I expressed my opinion of the impact that one voice can have in a room and said that we are “hopeful that you can be one of those voices in Congress.”
Two others, David Dierolf and Steve Neumeister, urged Rep. Perriello to support the Obama Administration’s foreign aid recommendations in the International Affairs Budget.
Rep. Perriello assured us that he would continue to do all he could to advocate on behalf of the voiceless who live in the poorest countries in the world. He informed us that he has already spoken directly with Chairman Obey of the House Appropriations Committee, urging him to defend President Obama’s proposed increase to the International Affairs Budget.
Before he began representing the 5th district in January of this year, Rep. Perriello worked in Africa as a consultant and lawyer building for sustainable peace in places like Sierra Leone, Liberia and Darfur.
Local ONE members are thrilled to have such a strong advocate in their representative – a person who truly believes that extreme poverty can be eradicated during his lifetime and will fight to see it happen.
After the meeting, Congressman Perriello recorded a special message to ONE members – check it out!
-Kristin Szakos, Charlottesville, VA
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The ONE Blog is a daily log of the anti-poverty movement. The site is operated by ONE staff, with frequent contributions from volunteers, members and partner organizations.
The ONE Blog updates readers daily with the latest in global development news and analysis and what ONE members and our partners are doing around the world to influence world leaders in the fight against global poverty.
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