Pick a goal, any goal

Sep 22nd, 2010 11:19 PM UTC
By Malaka Gharib

Earlier this evening, I went to a taping of “The Late Night with Jimmy Fallon” at the Rockefeller Center with three lovely ladies — ONE congressional district leader Barbra Barrar, member Michela Dellamonica and Margaret McDonnell, who works on our community partnership team.

I was psyched about the lineup, which included actor Josh Brolin, hip hop act The Roots and a “rock ‘n roll chef” who specialized in things like gourmet cotton candy and Fruit Loop-marshmallow squares.

But it was kind of discouraging that a) I couldn’t take pictures and b) we weren’t sitting in the front row (how could anyone see our shirts?). What would there be to blog about?

Luckily, I didn’t have to do much thinking. People kept asking us, “What’s ONE? Why are you here?” After talking to a few folks, I realized that almost no one knew that the U.N. Summit on the MDGs was going on this week.

So, I thought, why not talk to the audience members about it? I showed a few people my little fact sheet on the MDGs (similar to the one pictured on the left), and asked them to pick a goal, any goal, and talk about why it’s important. Here’s what they had to say:

Hunter, New Hampshire: “Goal 1. Hunger is something that’s been kind of a constant and hasn’t been solved yet or made any better than a few years ago. And hunger is not like a disease that can be cured.”

Maria, Massachusetts: “Goal 2. It’s important that everyone gets a chance with education and achieve anything they want to. It all starts in school.”

Ashley, New York : “MDG 6. My brother lived in Africa as a humanitarian aid worker, so it’s personal to me.”

Liam, New York: “MDG 1. Everybody’s gotta eat.”

Michelle, Canada: “MDG 1. There’s enough to go around, so we need to figure out how to distribute food properly.”

Now it’s your turn. Pick a goal, any goal — and tell us why it’s important to you in the comments below.

TAGS: ONE, September 2010 MDG Summit