On Thursday afternoon, I was enjoying a lobster roll with a friend at Brown’s Lobster Pool in Seabrook, New Hampshire when my phone alerted me that Governor Sarah Palin was at a private residence around the corner attending a clam bake.
We drove over to the residence, where I was able to chat with her briefly before she entered the house party. We talked a little about her last trip to New Hampshire during the 2008 election cycle and then she asked what I was working on these days. I told her all about the ONE Campaign and how we work to save millions of lives in places like Africa. She was familiar with ONE and our causes, she told me that Franklin Graham (a mutual friend with Bono) had told her all about the work we’re doing. They even went on a humanitarian trip to Haiti to look at the devastation from the earthquake last year.
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!
This week, Gov. Palin made her first trip to campaign in New Hampshire. And just like every candidate before her since late 2006, she was greeted by ONE members from all over the Granite State celebrating our nation’s efforts to save lives in the developing world, and asking the next President to accelerate these historic and heroic efforts.
In Dover, ONE’s Marine, Michael Castaldo made it out to the campaign rally with his son Louis. Although they did not get a chance to speak directly with Gov. Palin, Michael was able to snag a quick photo with NH’s Senator Sununu, who most ONE members know from his work as an original co-sponsor of the newest global AIDS, TB, and Malaria Bill called PEPFAR.
Later on, I caught up with Gov. Palin with some ONE members in Laconia. We were poised and ready with ONE bands but unfortunately did not get a chance to speak with her. Either way, I’m sure that she saw our ONE shirts in the crowd!
As we head into the final days, ONE members everywhere should be proud of all the efforts we have collectively taken in this election cycle to make sure that the next President of the United States leads the fight against global disease and extreme poverty. From taking action online, to letter writing, to meeting the candidates at various campaign rallies, we are raising our voices together as ONE, with the world’s poorest people.
Move over Washington University! You may have had vice presidential candidates Sarah Palin and Joe Biden in St. Louis for the debate, but ONE Webster had the ONE Campaign Tour Bus! Sporting a giant ONE logo and blasting great music, the ONE Campaign tour bus attracted students as we tabled throughout the day to promote our vice presidential debate watch party that evening.
Not only did we have the bus, but former Missouri Governor Bob Holden put on a pre-debate analysis with a panel of experts from universities across St. Louis. We packed Webster’s Sunnen Lounge with 170 people. After the chairs ran out, people piled in around the sides and back.
I figured the current economic crisis would dominate the debate, but I wanted [ONE to be there to] make sure everyone remembered those who have been living in an economic crisis their entire lives.
Thank you to all of the ONE Webster volunteers and our co-sponsors: Holden Public Policy Forum, Webster Rock the Vote, College Republicans and College Democrats.
On Thursday, Senator John McCain came to Iowa for the first time with new running mate Governor Sarah Palin.
The event was held at an air hanger in the Cedar Rapids airport and thousands of people attended, including many University of Iowa students in ONE T-shirts!
After the event, and after Sen. McCain and Gov. Palin toured parts of Cedar Rapids to see devastation from recent flooding, their motorcade pulled up to a long line of people, including ONE members, waiting for the senator and governor to board their plane.
As they walked through the line and shook hands, Senator McCain saw our ONE shirts and said that ONE is a wonderful organization and thanked us for what we do.
Next in the line came Governor Sarah Palin who shook hands with a ONE member who handed her a ONE band. She said “right on!” and immediately put on the band. (See our video). We were so happy to have represented ONE on Gov. Palin’s first visit to Iowa!
John McCain and Sarah Palin stopped in Lancaster, PA for a rally last week and local ONE members from Pennsylvania were ready. Wearing ONE shirts, we got seats directly behind the stage and were able to be in full view of the TV cameras broadcasting live nationwide.
Following the rally, we also spoke briefly with Ms. Palin and handed her a ONE band – to which she responded very enthusiastically and placed on her wrist. All in all, it was a great day for ONE PA!
Pennsylvania ONE members’ ONE shirts were clearly visible throughout CNN and MSNBC’s live coverage of the McCain-Palin Lancaster rally yesterday afternoon. See this screenshot from MSNBC below.
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.
