At the U2 concert last night, I had the chance to catch up with Andrew Silvestri, who came out to volunteer with ONE in his hometown of Norman, Oklahoma, and previously worked on our ONE Vote ’08 initiative last year. He was joined by his brother Eric and sister-in-law Tara. They took a quick break from signing up new ONE members to talk with me about how they got involved with ONE.

Eric and Tara have long been passionate about global development and Tara are getting ready to move to Costa Rica, where Eric plans to pursue a Masters Degree in International Law and Human Rights from the United Nations School of Peace in Costa Rica. And just a year and a half ago, they adopted Malak, a baby boy from Ethiopia. ONE is part of how they stay connected to Africa.

Andrew credited his time at ONE working on global poverty, with his decision to change the focus of his graduate program at the Kennedy School of Government to African development.

From left to right, Andrew, Tara and Eric Silvestri volunteering with ONE at the Norman, OK U2 show

The Slivestris are three more in the long line of incredible ONE volunteers we’ve seen at every stop on the U2 tour, from Barcelona back in July, to Norman yesterday. Their commitment is the “wind to our backs” that Archbishop Desmond Tutu talks about in his video message during the show, and a huge part of the reason for our optimism that this generation will be the one to end global poverty.

-Aaron Banks