Why We Stand Up Against Poverty (and Everything Else We Do)
“How do you maintain hope?” a cocksure voice crowed, deep from within the crowd of more than 200 people.
Needless to say, this guy’s question made for an awkward beginning to what was meant to be an informal question-and-answer segment after the hour-long speaker portion of our STAND UP AGAINST POVERTY program.
We were expecting something more along the lines of, “How do I sign up to be a volunteer?” Or “Will we really be counted for a Guinness World Record tonight?” Anything specific, we were prepared for. But not “How do you maintain hope?”
The way this guy said it––exasperatedly on the ‘how,’ yet edged with a rueful sincerity in the ‘hope’––confused us event organizers, and the podium sat empty while we all pondered for a moment.
It was a beautiful day that moved into a beautiful night. 120 people gathered at San Francisco’s Civic Center in front of City Hall to Stand Up and Speak Out for the millennium goals for two hour program. 12 community groups, including The Unity Foundation, IDEX, CARE, RESULTS, and Bay Area Darfur Coalition were there to provide outreach. We had the help and kind donations from so many people for the stage, to the lighting equipment and the sound system. The event ran really smoothly with the help of ONE members Kelli Schwertfeger, Jamie Miller, Cynthia Vallor, Allison Ewing and Kathleen Schumacher.
The night began with a welcome by the event organizers and ONE members Brian Webster and Lori Saltveit. Emmit Powell and The Gospel Elite followed with a half hour of inspirational music and and singing. At 7:00, Joshua Fryvecind from Zoo Station, Sarah Dotlich from local group IDEX that partners with grassroots groups in developing countries and Joel Rubinstein from RESULTS San Francisco Bay Area read the Stand Up pledge that was read by millions around the world. At this point, the crowd stood up with our readers. The evening wrapped up with 45 minutes of U2 music provided by the awesome tribute band Zoo Station. (more…)
How does one find the words to express what came into fruition in Miami on October 13th? Was it amazing? No, we had the will; we knew we could do it. Was it magical? Well, there certainly was something very thrilling about taking the thread of an idea and weaving it into a reality.
About two months ago a group of ambitious ONEsters met on a weekly basis to plan what became a successful event for the eradication of poverty and the re-emergence of ONE Miami. Different teams worked on various aspects of the event, from advertising to entertainment. One thing that I found particularly striking, was all of the resources we have right here in our community. When you look at how quickly we were able to put this impressive event together, it makes you wonder what more we can do. What are the limits of our capabilities? Imagine if we all pooled our resources together, what positive changes we could make in the world. Do we have the will?
ONE Saint Louis and ONE Webster held its STAND UP Against Poverty event tonight at 7 PM. We had 69 people Stand Up in support of ONE and the Millennium Development Goals. Bob McMullen and Nick Stevens, co-chairs of ONE Saint Louis introduced the crowd to the ONE Campaign and its current initiatives: ONEvote’08, the ONE Campus Challenge, and ONE Sabbath. The featured speaker, Dr. Mark Manary, spoke about his experiences in Malawi with the Peanut Butter Project, which is addressing the needs of malnourished children. Webster University student Bobby Williams contributed some of his slam poetry to the event and another Webster University student Abdoulaye Zorome spoke to the crowd about his home country of Burkina Faso. To finish the night, Sister Toni, founder of Microfinancing Partners in Africa debuted her mini-documentary on micro-financing in Africa.
Our partners for the event were Bread for the World, International Partners in Missions, Microfinancing Partners in Africa, ONEworld, and Alliance of Students Against Poverty. As ONE we were proud to stand with tens of millions of people around the world. To hammer home the message to our members of congress, participants wrote letters and made phone calls to support the Jubilee Act. The event was a great way to increase awareness in the St. Louis area and we look forward to being able to increase our outreach efforts through our new members.
Thanks,
Nick Stevens
ONE Regional Outreach Ambassador
Tonight we had a ONEPrairieVillage meeting (our first) combined with Stand Up and encouragement for calls regarding the Jubilee Act. I think it went well for our first meeting. Including myself, there were 10 people present, all of whom had previously signed the ONE Declaration.
We briefly introduced ourselves (since many of us weren’t familiar with one another), then I gave a short presentation on the basics of ONE’s mission. Following the presentation we all stood as one of our members read the Stand Up script. Pictures of the meeting and of us all standing are attached.
I think this meeting served as a great beginning, or resurrection as one member put it, of ONE activity in Kansas City. We will do some brainstorming in the next few weeks and plan to meet again next month and get an awareness event planned in the coming months.
Thanks for all your help and guidance since I joined the leader group! While ten was a good number for our first meeting, we’ve got plenty of room to grow…
-Nicolette King, ONEPrairieVillage, Kansas City, Kansas
During this amazing week in Seattle, that our mayor proclaimed as Champions of Global Poverty Week, I was part of many of Stand Up events throughout our region. Here are a few notes from two of my favorites.
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.
It was a beautiful day that moved into a beautiful night. 120 people gathered at San Francisco’s Civic Center in front of City Hall to Stand Up and Speak Out for the millennium goals for two hour program. 12 community groups, including The Unity Foundation, IDEX, CARE, RESULTS, and Bay Area Darfur Coalition were there to provide outreach. We had the help and kind donations from so many people for the stage, to the lighting equipment and the sound system. The event ran really smoothly with the help of ONE members Kelli Schwertfeger, Jamie Miller, Cynthia Vallor, Allison Ewing and Kathleen Schumacher.
The night began with a welcome by the event organizers and ONE members Brian Webster and Lori Saltveit. Emmit Powell and The Gospel Elite followed with a half hour of inspirational music and and singing. At 7:00, Joshua Fryvecind from 
ONE Saint Louis and ONE Webster held its STAND UP Against Poverty event tonight at 7 PM. We had 69 people Stand Up in support of ONE and the Millennium Development Goals. Bob McMullen and Nick Stevens, co-chairs of ONE Saint Louis introduced the crowd to the ONE Campaign and its current initiatives: ONEvote’08, the ONE Campus Challenge, and ONE Sabbath. The featured speaker, Dr. Mark Manary, spoke about his experiences in Malawi with the Peanut Butter Project, which is addressing the needs of malnourished children. Webster University student Bobby Williams contributed some of his slam poetry to the event and another Webster University student Abdoulaye Zorome spoke to the crowd about his home country of Burkina Faso. To finish the night, Sister Toni, founder of Microfinancing Partners in Africa debuted her mini-documentary on micro-financing in Africa.
Our partners for the event were Bread for the World, International Partners in Missions, Microfinancing Partners in Africa, ONEworld, and Alliance of Students Against Poverty. As ONE we were proud to stand with tens of millions of people around the world. To hammer home the message to our members of congress, participants wrote letters and made phone calls to support the Jubilee Act. The event was a great way to increase awareness in the St. Louis area and we look forward to being able to increase our outreach efforts through our new members.
During this amazing week in Seattle, that our mayor proclaimed as Champions of Global Poverty Week, I was part of many of Stand Up events throughout our region. Here are a few notes from two of my favorites. 
