Last night I joined the Winthrop University ONE group and South Carolina Congressional District Leaders Phillip Reynolds and Brandon Green at a town hall event for Rep. Clyburn.
Immediately after the speech, we worked our way through the swarm of students and approached Rep. Clyburn to talk to him about ONE and the recent cuts to the FY2011 budget. Rep. Clyburn let us know that he fully understands the urgency of the situation and encouraged us to continue our work educating South Carolina communities about the critical importance of funding for the International Affairs Budget (IAB).
After all, less than 1 percent of the total federal budget that funds the IAB not only saves lives but also strengthens America’s friendships with millions of people, thus strengthening our own national security.
This week, ONE members across South Carolina are getting together to raise awareness for the budget crisis and urge the Senate to restore the drastic cuts (made by the House of Representatives over the weekend) to life-saving programs in the developing world.
Already, students at Winthrop University, Wofford College and the University of South Carolina have organized letter-writing parties, and our newest Congressional District Leader in SC, William Dorn, hosted an event last night to educate and engage the Greenville community in our work.
Stay tuned for more updates out of South Carolina! You can be sure that every one of our volunteers is working hard to make sure U.S. funding for proven and effective programs like President Bush’s PEPFAR and GAVI is maintained in the 2011 budget and beyond.
This morning Gov. Mike Huckabee made a stop in Jupiter, Florida as a part of his cross-country book tour. I went out to talk with Gov. Huckabee about his work with ONE, and I went early as I knew there would be a crowd of folks anxious to meet the former Arkansas governor and 2008 presidential contender.
After introducing myself, I gave Gov. Huckabee a ONE band and thanked him for his support of the ONE Campaign. I told him that I had read about his visit to Rwanda with ONE back in 2008 and was encouraged by his own leadership to help the world’s poorest people. He lit up when I mentioned that trip and told me that it was a tremendous opportunity to gather with bi-partisan leaders, and learn about ways we can make a difference together. He thanked me for my work with ONE and encouraged me to continue using my voice for people living in poverty around the world.
While it was too crowded to pose for a picture, it was great to meet Governor Huckabee and I can’t thank him enough for always making time for ONE, and the least among us.
Two years ago, Ms. Cynthia Lebron took on the role of adviser to the ONE club at the Somerset Academy Charter School located in Pembroke Pines, Florida. Under her guidance, the students have organized a number of awareness activities in order to get the rest of the school talking about ONE and how each student can use their voice to help fight poverty and preventable disease.
This year for World AIDS Day, the group created the PSA below in an effort to continue educating the community about how we can help raise awareness of the global impact of HIV/AIDS. Take a minute to check it out, and be sure to check out ONE’s volunteer resources to learn about how you can get involved.
Last week, Miami Beach officially became “ONE City,” a declaration that the city is united against global poverty and preventable disease!
Recognizing years of hard work by Miami ONE members — including congressional district leaders Alix Gordon, Betsy Skipp and Danielle DePas — Mayor Matti Herrera Bower issued an official proclamation, underscoring the importance of local advocacy efforts to fight poverty, save lives from disease, put children in school and increase opportunities in poor countries around the world, particularly in Africa.
By being declared a ONE City, Miami Beach joins more than 130 ONE Cities across the nation in helping raise awareness about simple, effective solutions that can save the lives of millions of people.
In just the last several years, America’s global poverty-fighting and disease-fighting efforts have delivered historic results, and we thank Mayor Herrera Bower for recognizing the important role Miami Beach citizens play in the global economy and community.
Earlier this year, ONE launched ONE Vote 2010, an effort to mobilize voters and engage U.S. Senate candidates in open seats to make the fight against global poverty and disease a key foreign policy and security issue at the 2010 ballot box.
Just like ONE Vote ’08, we asked the candidates to make time for the more than 7,000 Arkansas ONE members and the world’s poorest people and answer our 2010 ONE Vote question:
Q: ONE’s vision for Africa is rooted in a moral and humanitarian desire to help the most vulnerable people, a recognition that building economic opportunities abroad creates opportunities at home, and a strategic understanding that our national security is intertwined with the stability of poor countries across the globe. Through bipartisan cooperation in Washington, the US has been a leader in helping provide millions of Africans with life-saving medicine, children with the chance to go to school, and women with the tools to feed their families, while investing in sustainable economic growth and tackling corruption to ensure scarce resources are used as intended.
How best can the US continue to tackle global disease, poverty, and hunger?
On Saturday, just 10 days before the midterm election, former vice presidential nominee Gov. Sarah Palin traveled to Orlando for a GOP rally with U.S. Senate candidate Marco Rubio. With many elected leaders, press and voters in attendance, we knew this would be a great opportunity for ONE to continue to get the word out about our efforts to rally Americans in the fight against extreme poverty and global disease in the developing world.
When the event kicked off around 3 P.M., our group of ONE members were right up front, waving ONE signs and proudly displaying our ONE shirts.
While we listened to speeches from Gov. Palin, Marco Rubio and many of the other top Republican leaders, I was thinking what the view must look like from stage — so many people were there showing support for ONE and our nonpartisan movement to help celebrate efforts to save lives and make sure that life-and-death issues like hunger, HIV/AIDS and malaria remain a key focus of U.S. foreign policy.
As the event came to a close, I was able to quickly introduce myself and ONE to Gov. Palin. With almost no time to chat, I did not get the chance to remind her of our recent engagement with her in Iowa, but I did thank her for always making time for ONE on the campaign trail in 2008 and beyond. Stay tuned to the ONE blog to see our photo with Sarah Palin, which will be posted later this week!
ONE is campaigning to ensure that the Congressional budget does not cut foreign assistance programs like Feed the Future that help people break the cycle of poverty and hunger.
The Horn of Africa is experiencing its worst drought in 60 years. More than 11 million people, mostly nomadic pastoralists and farmers in south-central Somalia, north-eastern Kenya, and south-eastern Ethiopia, are severely lacking access to food.
2011 marks 30 years since the first cases of AIDS were documented. Take a closer look at the specific, achievable goals we must hit by 2015 to make this year the beginning of the end of AIDS.
As aid agencies warn more than 9 million people could be affected by a food crisis in East Africa, world leaders are failing to keep their 2009 promises to tackle the causes of chronic hunger and support farmers in the world's poorest countries.
