Following McCain to Ohio

Last Thursday ONE Members in Portsmouth Ohio attended a Town Hall Meeting for John McCain. The Senator reiterated his commitment to the ONE Campaign and its issues - and our volunteers were all anxious to have an opportunity to show the Senator their support for fighting extreme poverty around the world.

ONE’s presence at presidential campaign events is nothing new to the campaign trail and we work to have our members and volunteers attend events for both Senator’s Obama and McCain. It wasn’t long after we arrived that we were given an incredibly warm welcome by the McCain staff, thanking us for our continued presence at events.

Shortly after McCain delivered his remarks, he singled out the ONE Vote ‘08 members, asking them to stand and briefly discuss the ONE Campaign and our mission. Before calling on ONE members, McCain stated that we were some of the best citizens of our generation, in that we are working for a cause bigger than ourselves. When asked what his administration would do to combat HIV/AIDS, Malaria and TB, McCain responded by stating that he would increase funding for vaccines and to the World Health Organization.

After McCain’s remarks, ONE members greeted McCain and wife, Cindy, handing them both ONE wristbands. Cindy quickly put her wristband on, telling the ONE members how excited she was to travel to Rwanda with the bi-partisan ONE delegation later this week.

As we were leaving one of the town hall attendees shouted through the crowd, “thanks, and you guys are doing incredible, incredible work.”

-Blake Waggoner- ONE Ohio Field Staff

Pushing for PEPFAR in Missouri and Ohio

Our targeted campaign to get key senators to sign the Lugar-Sununu letter to the Senate leadership in support of the $50 billion reauthorization of PEPFAR, America’s primary vehicle for fighting HIV/AIDS in the developing world, continues in Ohio and Missouri.

Last week, ONE members in St. Louis, MO visited Senator Bond’s office to drop off 918 letters from concerned Missourians requesting that Senator Bond add his name to the letter and show his support for immediate action on passing this lifesaving legislation.

And in Ohio, Blake Waggoner (a new ONE Vote ’08 staff member), Ellen Carmichael (a new CARE staff member in Ohio) and I were in downtown Columbus to deliver 1,440 letters to Senator Voinovich’s office!

Want to get involved? Sign up to be a ONE volunteer here: http://action.one.org/contact/volunteer.html

-Katie Andrews

Watching and Writing in the Buckeye State

We are writing letters about the Global Child Survival Act and watching Idol Gives Back here in Columbus, Ohio. More ONE members will be coming in later in the night so we’ll have more pictures soon.

-Katie Andrews, Regional Field Organizer

Today

Historically, as we move closer to the general election, campaigns, media and electorate itself, tends to talk a lot more about the horse race and a lot less about the issues.

Today, with critical presidential primaries in four states, I and my many ONE member friends and colleagues must work that much harder to raise the profile for global poverty in this country.

Remember, you can look at the candidate’s plans for global poverty on ONE Action’s On The Record site. If you happen to live in Ohio, Texas, Vermont or Rhode Island, you could consider talking about global poverty while in the voting line.

And, as always, stay tuned for more urgent actions in the days, weeks and months ahead.

-Virginia Simmons

Banding Michelle Obama in Ohio

ONE member Nick Means was able to snap this quick shot of ONE member Jennifer Bryce banding Michelle Obama this week in Chillicothe, OH.

With the Ohio presidential primary on Tuesday, we’ll see being seeing more and more ONE members across the state showing the candidates that Ohio cares about global poverty and disease.

-Katie Andrews

Another Donkey For ONE

Friday night, I had the pleasure of speaking at Donkey Coffee’s ONE concert featuring local talent in Athens, OH: Laura Nadeau, Zach Oden, Jake Householder and Victor Rasgaitis.

This hip fair trade coffee house has been a supporter of ONE for a long time now. I realized how much owner Chris Pyle is committed to educating his community to take action when I saw one of the coffee house’s rooms dedicated to social justice. In it you’ll find a ONE display and literature/posters from other great organizations that Donkey supports like Habitat for Humanity and World Vision.

But, back to the fun part—the music!! Check out this excerpt from Victor’s set and you’ll see how the musicians were able to incorporate the ONE message into the night.

This is just a reminder that whether you are a business owner, musician, teacher, student or none of the above…think outside of the box and you, too, can help make a positive impact on the world.

Here are some of the pictures: Donkey Coffee, Laura Nadeau performing, girl looking at ONE Vote brochure, and coffee mugs, Salinger and ONE.

-Katie Andrews, Regional Field Organizer (KS, OH, MI, MO, WV)

Clinton Comes to Columbus

Finally! The campaign comes to the Buckeye State!!

Despite it being Valentine’s Day, ONE members were out on the campaign trail last night to see Senator Clinton and make sure the Columbus community is thinking about global poverty and disease when they cast their ballet during the Ohio Primary on March 4th.

It’s only the beginning in Ohio so keep any eye out for us during the next couple of weeks. Go ONE, Go OHIO! OH-IO!!

-Katie Andrews, ONE Regional Organizer

Dropping Letters in Ohio

On Friday, February 1st, I sent out an email to all the ONE members in Ohio. This message was a call to action urging members to write letters to Senator George Voinovich asking him to co-sponsor the Global Child Survival Act. Wondering if my hope for one hundred responses was perhaps unrealistic, I was blown away when the numbers came flooding in - 1,354 ONE members in the state of Ohio answered the call!

Today I was honored to represent the Buckeye State in the first letter drop for ONE in Ohio. I, along with ONE Field Organizer Katie Andrews, met briefly with Senator Voinovich’s State Communications Liaison Khisha Fallon to discuss the importance of child and maternal health.

As a ONE member, I’ve come to know that every year 10 million children die before their fifth birthday – that’s one every three seconds – nearly all of them from preventable or treatable diseases, like diarrhea, pneumonia and measles. Worldwide, more than 500,000 mothers die each year from complications during child birth. With this action today and actions just like this from ONE members across the nation, the prognosis for mothers and young children in the developing world can be a much more hopeful one.

Thank you ONE members in Ohio for helping me take a stand for children and mothers around the world.

-Chris Cooper, ONE Member (Chillicothe, OH)

200 new members at OSU

. More than 200 people signed their support for ONE at OSU’s Involvement Fair yesterday. Thousands of new and returning students came out in force to learn what groups they could get involved in for this academic year. Beth Kaltenbach, the president of OSU’s chapter of ONE, has also taken on a new project at OSU’s campus: EDUN Live on Campus. ONE and EDUN Live on Campus partnered together during the event today to raise awareness for extreme poverty. If today was any indication, OSU’s campus will be brimming with ONE activity very soon. -Katie Andrews, ONE Regional Organizer