Renee Appert

ONE staff videographer Kimberly Cadena and I caught up with Grammy Award-winning rock group Switchfoot before they took stage for a packed St. Patty’s Day concert in Washington, D.C. Band members Drew Shirley and Chad Butler, both longtime ONE advocates, took some time to chat with us about our current ONE priorities.

Most of our conversation was focused on the proposed cuts to the US budget that help the world’s poorest people. Drew and Chad know very well that less than 1 percent of our US budget is saving millions of lives, and cuts to something as small as 1 percent could be very devastating. When I mentioned that the proposed cuts could hurt programs that save more than 4,400 human lives each day, Drew and Chad both gasped, noting that “they have seen the living proof that smart aid programs are saving lives.” And with that, these two rockers wanted to share an important message out to fans and ONE members. Check out the video below:

As the two readied themselves to step on stage, I smiled at the fact that Drew and Chad were proudly wearing their white ONE bands, playfully high-fiving each other to show them off. High fives back to these two for being such loyal ONE members and speaking out against the budget cuts -– you rock!

Renée Appert is ONE’s Sr. Manager of US Marketing. She recently joined ONE after leading integrated marketing programs for a Fortune 200 company.