Over the weekend, ONE member Daniel Brookman from Georgia’s 12th district and I caught up with Congressman John Barrow at his “Congress on the Corner” stop in Glennville, GA.

On behalf of the 3,417 ONE members living in his district, we thanked Rep. Barrow for supporting the reauthorization of PEPFAR, through which America is saving more than 4 million lives. However, we also told him of our concern about the recent House budget cuts which will put millions of lives at risk, including more than 58,000 newborns whose HIV-positive mothers will not receive treatment to prevent the transmission of HIV to their baby.

The congressman was kind enough to talk to us and described the tough budget environment and pressure from various political groups to make deep cuts in the federal budget.

We asked Rep. Barrow to stand firm in opposition to these cuts and to lead his colleagues in the House Blue Dog Coalition in helping to push back against the targeting of these programs which save lives, win us friends overseas, save us billions of dollars in military spending in the long-term, and strengthen our national security.

Following the House’s choice to make cuts of 40 percent to programs that fight AIDS and malaria and 25 percent to programs that promote long-term economic development and better governance, ONE members came out in full force to discuss efficient, cost effective programs that are saving lives and building a stronger future for people who might not otherwise be alive.

Sitting together in Senator Isakson’s office were ONE members, campus leaders and congressional district leaders along with supporters and friends from RESULTS and Bread for the World. In a true community effort, we fostered a great conversation combining statistics and hard data with passionate, first hand accounts of how these programs are changing real lives and saving real people. These stories of success are what need to become a part of our everyday conversation.

Special thanks to Senator Isakson’s staff for meeting with ONE and allowing Georgians to give a voice to the voiceless, as ONE continues to urge leaders to take a stand for the world’s poorest people.

-Heather Momand, ONE Congressional District leader, Georgia

Me talking to the senator before his speech.

As a member of the campus ONE chapter, I took the opportunity to talk to the senator about our commitment to the fight against extreme poverty and disease.

I started out by thanking him for signing onto last year’s letter to President Obama, which asked for a strong foreign affairs budget.

He mentioned that he was on the Africa subcommittee and the Foreign Relations committee and understood the need for a robust foreign affairs budget.

I also took the opportunity to discuss the Global Food Security Act, and told him about the Lugar/Casey letter, which urges senators to bring the Act to the floor before the Senate year.

I requested that he sign on to that letter, because the bill would go a long way in combating poverty in African nations. Overall, the senator was very receptive, especially when we started talking about the Global Fund and its benefits.

Before leaving, I thanked him again and let him know that our Atlanta Congressional District Leaders would follow up with more information with his staff this week.

– Sharad Gopal, ONE member, Georgia

Mayor Steve Tumlin declares Marietta, Georgia a “City of ONE” on April 25, 2010, with ONE members Kristi Wooten and Nancy Bauer. Photo by Kaitlyn Pack ©2010 WidescreenVideoProductions.com

The day started early as over 60 volunteers began streaming in to set up for the day. The afternoon’s events started in the Family Life Center. Paul Howell, internationally recognized mosquito expert for the Malaria Research and Reference Reagent Resource Center (MR4) at the Centers for Disease Control, put together a fascinating look at mosquitoes and the use of bed nets in the developing world. Nets were hung over air mattresses as a “village at night” was created for people to experience. Kids were welcomed into the village and were encouraged to sleep under a bed net – well at least for a little while. The new Bobby Bailey video, “When the Night Comes,” played as a background loop for people to view as they experienced the night in our village. Paul also had several containers of mosquitoes he used to show people how the mosquitoes reacted to the chemicals on the bed nets.

The children’s area featured a rock climbing wall, hula hoops and the opportunity to learn more about malaria and its devastating effects through the use of word searches, maps and other fun games. Former Atlanta Hawks and Georgia Tech basketball standout, Ivano “Newby” Newbill, led everyone in a basketball contest and a free throw contest. We had some pretty good shooters on the court! Star, the mascot for the Atlanta Dream (Atlanta’s professional women’s basketball team) was on the court helping Newby with all those great shooters.

At 4:30, we moved the activities to the Sanctuary where music newcomer Scott England opened the musical portion of the event. Scott performed an awesome, inspiring set for us. By the way, not only is Scott a talented musician, he’s a really great guy! I always feel a little bad for the guy/band who has the challenge of opening an event. Especially when you’re opening for local heroes Third Day! Third Day took the stage to a standing ovation, and, honestly, people didn’t sit down for their entire set. I had not ever met the members of Third Day, but what great guys – knowledgeable, passionate and just nice men. Their music is inspirational and so is their attitude. They played a fantastic set of four songs for us. But, I think the crowd would have stayed for hours if Third Day could have stayed and played!

Third Day performs with singer Scott England for World Malaria Day in Marietta, Georgia on April 25. Photo by Kaitlyn Pack ©2010 WidescreenVideoProductions.com

After the music, Third Day members stayed, talked with fans and signed autographs. Mac Powell, the lead singer, took the opportunity to spend some time at our mosquito exhibit, learning and asking some really good questions about malaria.

The good news and bottom line: At last count, we successfully raised almost $9,000 including a matching gift from the Tony Blair Faith Foundation. (www.tonyblairfaithfoundation.org). That’s at least 900 nets – nets that will save lives! More good news, donations are still coming in!

Special thanks to Marietta First Baptist Pastor Bill Ross, music minister Paul Hill, children’s minister Lauren Waggoner and all the church staff, as well as church members Christina and Paul Howell, Karla Jacobs, Debbie Schulte, and so many others who made this event such a success.

-Nancy Bauer, Georgia ONE Member

Every year at my middle school, the 8th graders participate in a humanitarian project through our Language Arts classes. The task was simple; pick an organization or charity and write an essay and speech to educate your classmates on the issue and what the organization is doing to help. The speeches will be presented at the end of the semester and are worth about 50% of our final grade. In the typical teenager fashion most just grumbled and complained at yet another assignment. However, my mind was buzzing. I immediately chose ONE, but was afraid that in just one five minute speech I wouldn’t be able to communicate the gravity of extreme poverty and the incredible steps ONE is taking to end it. Just a few weeks ago, I saw an opportunity to show the over 12,000 kids who go to my school why they should care.

Our teachers told us that this year we were trying something new. Market Day. A voluntary event where we could set up a booth/exhibit to “market” our organization. Finally, I thought, I can show them what they don’t understand. Just over 40 out of 400 students in our class decided to participate. A little disappointing, but we’re fourteen-year-olds. What would you expect? I went a little crazy with the art supplies, and frantically contacted my Field Organizer, Sara Paterni. After exchanging e-mails I got wristbands (never underestimate the power of a free wristband to a teenager) and fliers sent to me. I created a poster, and did everything I could possibly think of to get people to notice my booth.

After spending basically my entire life on the exhibit for about a week and a half, we finally had our event. I managed to snag some speakers from my teacher (coincidentally a devoted ONE member) that I could hook up to a computer, and had a constant play-list of U2 songs going for over three hours. Grade by grade the students poured in, and thankfully I have a very loud voice that got the kids out of the queue and over to me. I managed to get over 150 signatures on the ONE declaration, and handed out about as many fliers and ONE fact sheets. It makes me so relieved to know that even the teenagers can get involved. They now know that they can proudly declare they are ONE, and that they can make a difference in the fight against extreme poverty.

-Emily Bergquist

The first conference was a gathering of Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) presidents, administrators, and staff at the 36th National Dialogue on Blacks in Higher Education. This is an annual conference organized by the National Association for Equal Opportunity in Higher Education (NAFEO). A big theme this year was the importance of educating students on issues of international affairs so they can compete in today’s global market. This message fit in perfectly with our presentation, as we told the crowd about ONE’s mission and how they could get their schools involved. The group was excited to hear what we had to say, and asked lots of thoughtful questions about both ONE Campus Challenge and ONE’s Haiti campaign.

The next day, we flew to Atlanta for the National African Student Association’s very first conference, called “Placing an African Face on African Development.” The National African Student Association works to bring together African student groups at universities across the US. We got to lead two workshops there, and we loved hearing the student’s feedback. They shared their stories and told us of their plans to get involved in Africa’s development—one student even said “a lot of us send home money, but this is something else we can do to help.”

It was a busy 48 hours, but we’re excited to work closely with members of both organizations in the months ahead.

On Thursday ONE members gathered at Georgia Tech to participate in an advocacy workshop, the first of a series of ONE workshops that will be taking place across the country over the next few months. The event featured an in-depth policy update on agriculture and global health issues. We learned that close to 1 billion people around the world are undernourished. That means one in nearly six people do not get enough food to be healthy and lead an active life. Investing in agriculture will help the world’s poorest people earn their way out of poverty. This is especially true in sub-Saharan Africa, where agriculture is the backbone of most economies and employs nearly two-thirds of the population.

We spent the second half of the evening brainstorming ways we can use our voice to be effective advocates for the world’s most vulnerable people. Before leaving we wrote letters to Senators Isakson and Chambliss asking them to support the president’s FY 2011 request for the International Affairs Budget. There are few places in the U.S. federal budget where dollars translate so directly into lives saved.

Overall it was a great event and I am encouraged by the interest and enthusiasm displayed by all in attendance. I am looking forward to working with the ONE members in Georgia as they use their voice this year to put a stop to extreme poverty.

Below are a few more of the meetings that recently happened, and continue to follow the ONE Blog to check out all the future meetings and activities of ONE members taking action in towns and cities across America.

Visit with Senator Chambliss’s office in Atlanta, GA

On September 15th Jessica Given had the pleasure of representing 40,000 ONE members in Atlanta when she met with staffer Steven Meeks in Senator Saxby Chambliss’ office. Specifically, the meeting was to discuss the urgency of the issue of Climate Change and to ask Senator Chambliss to support 5% of any revenue produced from future climate legislation to directly address this issue as the poorest people of the world would suffer the most while contributing the least to the problem of global warming. The meeting went well and Mr. Meeks assured Jessica that he would make sure to pass along the information and our request would be heard.

Visit with Senator Mikulski’s office in Fells Point, MD

On Thursday September 17, 2009 Deidree Bennet and six ONE members met with staff in Senator Mikulski’s Fells Point office where they asked that the Senator sign on to co-sponsor S.1524 Foreign Assistance Revitalization and Accountability Act of 2009. They were also able to talk about all the great activities that over 36,000 MD ONE members have helped with this year and discuss the Senator’s constituents want to take action in the fight against extreme poverty. The staffer’s also let us know that there is new email option on the Senator’s website and encouraged ONE member to let the Senator know their views through the website, so if you’re from Maryland shot them an email. It only takes a few minutes but it is important to let our leaders know we care about these issues.

Visit with Senator Crapo’s office in Boise, ID

On September 29, Matt Miller led a group of Boise ONE members to meet with Senator Crapo’s regional director, Bryan Ricker. Through the meeting they were able to discuss ONE’s mission as well as the need to remember the world’s poorest people in any upcoming climate legislation, the Water for the World Act and the Foreign Assistance Revitalization and Accountability Act of 2009. The volunteers were also able to discuss PEPFAR and how such life saving bills have direct ties to our national security interests in addition to helping those in need.

Mr. Ricker was interested to hear that ONE is over 5,000 strong in Idaho and growing. The meeting went very well and he was kind enough to meet with us for 45 minutes and assured them that all of the issues that were discussed would be brought to the Senator.

Visit with Senators Webb and Warner’s offices in Roanoke, VA

Before Allison Martin headed back to school for the fall she spent her last few days of summer advocating on behalf of the world’s poor! She coordinated a great group of ONE members in Roanoke, VA to introduce ONE and discuss global poverty issues at Senator Warner and Senator Webb’s local district offices. The volunteers were excited to represent over 46,000 ONE members across the state who come from all walks of life, faith communities, and political backgrounds to fight extreme poverty and preventable disease as one.