“How do you maintain hope?”

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.

“Is he kidding?” I thought to myself.

Honestly, (more…)

And San Francisco Stands Up….

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…)

And Miami Stands Up

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?

(more…)

St. Louis Stands Up

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

Standing Up, Starting Out

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

My Favorite Week

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.

(more…)

ONEMiami is INSANE!

Just when you thought you couldn’t see anything cooler…

ONE starts ‘em younger every year

The spirit of ONE was evident at Northside College Preparatory High School in downtown Chicago on Wednesday. The student ONE chapter did an amazing job planning a colloquium on global issues that included survivors of the Holocaust, the Bosnia – Herzegovina conflict, and the current war in Darfur. In addition, 1,235 students, faculty, and guests took a stand against extreme poverty.

After the assembly, students broke into small groups and met with members of community groups including the Chinese Mutual Aid Association, the Ethiopian Community Association of Chicago, the ONE Campaign, and World Vision. I was honored to be included as a Break-Out session presenter where I was able to share my experiences with the ONE Campaign, report on our current efforts and on all that has been accomplished with ONE. I was very inspired spending this morning with such high caliber students who are committed to ending extreme poverty.

-Shayne Moore, ONE Member, Wheaton, IL

Simple Math

6 spectacular Columbia College students
+ 4 dedicated ONE volunteers
=
393 Chicagoans standing up for the world’s poor and 129 signatures on a petition for the Jubilee Act.

Throughout the day Wednesday, six amazing students from the Artists of Foreign Policy group visited classes at Columbia College in Chicago to count their colleagues who wanted to take a stand against extreme poverty and global disease.

In the evening, they joined with the ONE Campaign and the Critical Encounters “Poverty and Progress” program at Columbia to hold a public event on the Millennium Development Goals and show the audience how easy it is to get active in the fight. They shared the stage with artists in the area who have written performance pieces on the HIV/AIDS pandemic, genocide, and water shortages, as well as speakers on how unfair debt practices have contributed to the crisis.

After the stand, participants made paper clip versions of themselves to put on a map as a permanent exhibit of those that made the stand. And they took the first steps toward action by linking their names together to form a chain that will accompany a petition to their senator asking him to co-sponsor the Jubilee Act to so that impoverished countries can stop repaying debts and start investing in education, adequate housing and basic health care.

-Annisa Wanat

Chillicothe Brings it All Together

Over 200 people Stood Up against global poverty yesterday at the Rockin’ Fish in Chillcothe, Ohio.

Paritioners from church and other churches in the area as well as students from Chillicothe Middle School and Zane Trace High school turned out. Jeremy Siberall, who is running for a City council seat was there and he signed the ONE Declaration. Diane Carnes, City Council member, Rep. Party Head and Mayoral Candidate running against Mayor Joe Sulzer was in attendance as well. They were joined by Mary Elsass, Director of United Way of Ross County, as well as Dr. Ellis Frazier of the Ross County AIDS Task Force.

ONE Chillcothe Group leader Christopher Cooper gave this brief account:

I introduced Mary Elsass and Dr. Frazier Josh sang some more and spoke about the Jubilee Act Jennifer and I passed out the one page info sheets on Jubilee and the take action sheets I read the highlights from last year’s STAND UP Dirk Moore, along with 5 others lead the crowd in the STAND UP declaration I introduced ONE Vote ‘08 We showed the ONE Vote ‘08 video starring Chris Cooper and that Matt Damon and Bono guy, whoever they are : ) LOL Dirk Moore did an acoustic set of Davenporte songs that had everyone on their feet The ceremony was over and ONE Chillicothe musicians continued with an open mic jam session

The crowd was about half White and Black and an equal mix of the religious “affiliated” and “unaffiliated.” Bev said it was beautiful and she’s never seen anything like it among the youth.

All in all, it was another great ONE Chillicothe event. A Christian venue brings in rock bands and gospel groups who cross lines of faith drawn in the sand and do away with the theological sticking points to let the unifying message of ONE bring us all together.

Check out a bunch more photo of the event here.