Some of ONE’s members and volunteers from Kentucky’s 5th District in Corbin, Ky., sponsored by Congressional District Leader Shane Pippin, were able to get together last week to do some letter writing and phone calls to Congressman Hal Rogers. Rogers’ Somerset office staff has proven to be a friendly connection, even communicating with us via phone and email during the planning of this recent ONE party. The letters will be delivered to Rogers’ DC office early next week.

Nearly 20 ONE volunteers made phone calls and wrote letters at this event. During the letter writing and call party, Pippin also hosted a side meeting for another 20 potential new members to discuss poverty, world hunger and needless casualties of preventable diseases, as well as the key role that ONE plays in advocating against these problems.

The Kentucky members felt the urgency in the timing of this event, and their awareness of the heart-wrenching suffering of many throughout the Horn of Africa moved them to act.

Additionally, the budget cuts that American politicians are now debating have led ONE members to focus on the most important issues. At a time when the foreign aid budget is at stake, we, as concerned constituents are hoping to be heard and to make a difference. Our District also anticipates more calls to be made and more letters to be written.

-Shane Pippin, ONE Congressional District Leader, Kentucky

Over the past few days, I had the opportunity to travel with Kentucky Congressional District Leader Pastor Shane Pippin.

On top of our general outreach in the 5th District, we were fortunate enough to sit down for a radio interview with News Director Brian Sizemore at 96.7-WANV in London, Ky.

Pastor Shane spoke at length about local Kentucky ONE members and their message that for less than 1 percent of the US federal budget, America is saving millions of lives, putting people on the path out of extreme poverty, and building a safer and more stable world as a result.

Pastor Shane and I also attended a meeting with other Kentucky ONE members at Congressman Hal Rogers’ office in Somerset. We thanked the staff of Rep. Rogers for his leadership as chairman of the powerful House Appropriations Committee and for meeting with us on the important issues related to fighting global poverty and disease. We asked that Congressman Rogers work with his colleagues to ensure that America will continue to lead the world by supporting funding for key programs like the Global Fund to fight HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis; GAVI, which delivers vaccines to save kids’ lives; and sustainable agriculture programs.

Pastor Shane ended the meeting by acknowledging that times are tough and we know spending cuts will need to be made — but that the above mentioned programs are key priorities and some of the most effective at saving lives, and we hope that they will be spared any disproportional cuts.

Big thanks to Pastor Shane for helping promote advocacy, education and awareness regarding ONE’s issues!

To advance ONE’s fight against devastating cuts to life-saving programs, I joined Congressional District Leader Pastor Shane Pippin and other Kentucky ONE members last Friday for an in-district meeting with Congressman Hal Rogers‘ staff. Pastor Shane opened the meeting explaining how he has experienced poverty growing up in Appalachia but that he knows there are people in the developing world who are worse off and need our help.

Our group also explained to Rep. Rogers’ staff that we were concerned about the cuts that have been made in the House. Those cuts will affect many important life-saving programs. The 43 percent cut to the Global Fund means that more than 400,000 people will not get the antiretroviral treatment needed to keep them alive and healthy. In our meeting, Rep. Rogers’ staff mentioned that the congressman had just met with Bill and Melinda Gates to discuss funding for international life-saving programs last week and that they were familiar with our issues.

Pastor Shane delivered more than 20 handwritten letters from constituents expressing their concerns for the world’s most vulnerable people. Rep. Rogers’ staff was gracious in accepting the letters and promised to deliver them to him and make note of our visit. Way to go Pastor Shane and all of the other Kentucky ONE members!

Live in Kentucky? Please visit our mid-Atlantic Region Facebook group and follow me on Twitter.

Once a year, the city of Bowling Green in Kentucky hosts the International Festival, an exciting, day-long celebration of the world. Many of the vendors at the festival reflect the diversity in our city, as Bowling Green is home to a wide array of refugees and immigrants.

This year, Western Kentucky University AID (WKUAID), the masterminds behind WKU’s ONE campaign, decided to host a ONE table at the event to help get out the word about poverty as well as to talk about our upcoming fair trade event on October 15th.

Our newest member!

Our volunteers got there bright and early and we tabled all day long until the evening, when we were graciously rewarded for our efforts with some delicious baked goods from an Armenian lady stationed next to us. All in all, we signed up more than 100 new members and got the word out about our event to a whole new audience of Kentuckians with roots from around the world.

We also ran into some old ONE allies from Bowling Green and even made a few new allies, including a furry friend in the photo above. It’s events like these that really help build that sense of global community that’s necessary to make poverty history.

-Matt Vaughan, ONE member, Kentucky

Thirteen great ONE volunteers got to Freedom Hall to start working to recruit new members at 6:00PM and by the time Third Day took the stage around 9:00 we had signed up 538 people who wanted to join us in the fight against extreme poverty and preventable diseases. The volunteers did such an awesome job we were worried we would not be able to fit everyone into the Q&A after the concert!

During the concert Third Day slowed things down and told the audience that they were going to do something kind of unusual for a rock concert- that they wanted everyone to sit down! At that point the lead singer Mac and the bassist Tai spoke about ONE and the importance of everyone coming together to make a difference in the fight against extreme poverty. They then turned it over to WJIE Radio station DJ Chris Crain to read the Stand Up pledge asking people to commit themselves to fighting poverty every day. It was so exciting to be part of over 6000 people all at one time standing up and cheering in coordination with millions of people all over the planet doing the same thing.

After the show was the special Q&A session for ONE members, and over 400 people poured into the room anxiously waiting to hear more from their favorite band. I kicked things off by talking about ONE and ways people in Louisville can use their voices for the world’s poorest people. Then all the members of Third Day entered the room as their fans went wild! Starting off the Q&A both Mac and Tai spoke very passionately about the importance of fighting for the poorest of the poor and how ONE makes it very easy to get started in that fight. People had tons of questions and were so excited for the opportunity to learn more about ONE and get to see such a personal side of Third Day.

Overall it was an amazing day to Stand Up Against Poverty and I was so fortunate to be part of it all!

PS: Stay tuned to the ONE Blog for some video and pictures from the Q&A with Third Day soon!

If you live in the area, and would like to volunteer with ONE, please sign up here. People who join ONE that night will also be invited to a special acoustic session with the band after the concert where people can come and learn how to be more involved in the fight against extreme poverty.

Here are the details:

When:
Saturday, Oct. 17. Arrive at 5:30PM

Where:
Freedom Hall at the KY Expo Center
937 Phillips Lane
Louisville, KY 40233