As Denver’s Mile High Stadium packed in tens of thousands of U2 fans to kickoff the USA U2 360˚ tour on Saturday, 30 ONE Colorado teammates armed only with iPads recruited more than 3,400 new members.

Volunteering at a U2 show with ONE is easily one of the most exciting events I’ve experienced. This show, however, stood above the other two I’ve participated in. Over the past few months ONE Colorado has been building teams in Denver, Boulder, Colorado Springs and elsewhere in the state.

These teams pulled together, along with members from ONE partner organizations BeadforLife, Ten Thousands Nets and Mothers Acting Up, to show what it looks like to stand up for the world’s poorest people as one. It is an honor to be a part of a team which is equally strong talking foreign development policy with Senators Bennet and Udall as they are recruiting 3,400 new members at a U2 concert.

This weekend, I once again had the pleasure of traveling to attend a ONE member workshop– this time in Denver, Colorado. For those who haven’t been able to attend one in your community yet, these workshops are an opportunity for ONE members from a wide array of backgrounds and past experiences with ONE, to assemble, collaborate with one another, and learn more about the issues we advocate for. For me personally, it was a chance to meet with ONE members directly, who are doing great work in their states and in their communities in the fight against extreme poverty.

The group of 60 or so that gathered for the workshop in Denver on Saturday were extremely diverse. Some were very engaged on these issues already, and some just came out to see what ONE was all about. The workshop– led by Regional Field Director Matt Higginson– touched on an array of subjects, from the ins and outs of advocacy, to the budget process in Washington, to the great work already happening on the ground in developing countries.

Two of the attendees were Megan Marsh and Joe Marsh, two Congressional District Leaders (in districts 5 and 6, respectively) who also happen to be siblings. Both have been ONE members for a few years and were very much involved with ONE’s work around the Democratic National Convention in 2008.

At one point during the workshop, we got to hear from State Representative Joe Miklosi (District 9) who talked about the importance of engaging our elected officials through visits and letters. He also talked about his organization Project C.U.R.E. and the great work they’re doing delivering medical supplies, services, and equipment in the developing world.

All in all, it was a great workshop. To find one in your community, just click here.

PS– Patty Manwaring of BeadforLife was also at the workshop, along with a bunch of their handmade bead jewelry. You can read more about their work here.

The Music Builds Tour ended in Denver CO on Sunday night, and it ended with a bang. We had 14 volunteers attend and we were able to sign up more than 450 new members of ONE.

Big thanks to Switchfoot, Robert Randolph, Third Day, and Jars of Clay for their support and kind words from the stage. Many of their fans found us after or during the show to sign the declaration and learn more because of the endorsement from their favorite band.

Throughout the tour we have had the opportunity to meet literally thousands of new faces, all of whom were shocked to hear about how diseases like malaria and tuberculosis are killing millions in Africa. Now they are eager to hold our elected leaders accountable for the promises America has made to help eradicate these diseases everywhere.

-Matthew Higginson

Local volunteers Brooke and Dana working the ONE Bus.

Darren & Lindsey from Littleton, CO, working the service project.

ONE volunteer Joe Marsh is signing Delegates up as they wait for their credentials.

And one of many volunteers who walked the 16th St. Mall in Denver and signed up new members to ONE.

A lot of people have come by to learn about ONE and sign up for the cause. Here’s a sampling of the foot traffic.

Below, a couple of alternate delegates from New Mexico came by. They said they’d be on the convention floor tomorrow and will be wearing their new ONE shirts.

Here, a set of 3 delegates from Nevada came by to pick up some ONE materials.

A couple more pics of visitors coming by.

And this one is my favorite. ONE staff and volunteers were busy, so our new Alternate-Delegate-from-New Mexico friends introduced these three newbies to ONE.

I managed to catch some of it on camera. First I’ll profile 3 of our volunteers: Erika, Monica and Allie.

Erika (below) and I chatted for a bit. She told me that she first heard about ONE 2 years ago from an email – and has been a big supporter ever since. This is the first time she’s been able to volunteer in-person – I’m excited to see more of her around the convention.

Monica is also a local volunteer. Here she is getting ready to head out to the 16th St. Mall in Denver to spread the word about ONE. Yesterday, she walked the “delegate-credentialing” line and signed up new ONE delegates for us. She was even able to get to hand some ONE lit and a ONE band to New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin.

And local volunteer Allie also came by and was kind enough to pose for me by our bus.

-Virginia Simmons

Below check out our new traveling headquarters: “the ONE Bus”. This week it’s in Denver for the Democratic National Committee Convention. Next week we’ll drive the bus to Minneapolis/ St. Paul for the Republican National Committee Convention.

Right now, folks are just setting up, and at 9am (mountain time) Democratic delegates and volunteers will be coming by to learn more about ONE and how to get involved.

Later today, we’re partnering with World Vision to run a service project building volunteer kits for AIDS caregivers around the world.

Check back to the ONE Blog over the next 2 week for more updates from the ground.

-Virginia Simmons

ONE is also hosting service projects for volunteers at both conventions. As many as 800 volunteers will assemble kits to distribute to caregivers who support people living with AIDS all over the world. In addition, ONE will be hosting panel discussions as each convention to engage and educate people on the issues of extreme poverty and global disease.

For those who live in Denver or Minneapolis, or plan to travel there for the conventions, you can sign up now to help with the caregiver kits at the DNC here and the RNC here. More information about the conventions will follow in the coming days.

Here in Colorado, everyone is talking about the Democratic National Convention. ONE members from around the state are thinking up ways to make the biggest impact on the delegates and candidates who will start flooding Denver later this month. During Friday night’s ONE Vote ’08 Gallery Show we talked about ONE’s plans during DNC week, including assembling care packages for Africa, and attending a forum on international development and global poverty.

On the walls of the gallery were pictures of ONE members in Africa and ONE Vote ’08 volunteers meeting with the presidential candidates on the campaign trail. The pictures captured the type of energy we want to produce at the convention. We also saw the latest ONE Vote ’08 video, which showed the enormous success of the campaign so far.

The event was aimed at our most loyal members and getting them energized about future events – and it worked. There was a buzz around the room that lingered through the night as people kept having thoughts spring to their mind about who would be good to talk to about getting an article written about the care packages, or where we could set up a booth.

Doug Smith, one of the DenverONE moderators made the goal for our group very clear though: 400 volunteers at the care package event on the 25th. So if you live in Colorado we’re going to need you, and 3 of your friends, to help us out that day. Get involved in what we’re doing by joining the DenverONE page.

We had an awesome event last week, I know that energy will carry us to the DNC where I hope to see dozens of my fellow ONE members on every block.

-Matthew McAllister, DenverONE

Yesterday, I attended John McCain’s speech at the University of Denver. I was accompanied by two other ONE members, Matthew McAllister and Lydia Van Vleet. Before the speech, we spread the word about ONE with those sitting around us. It was great to share information about an organization that we are so passionate about and it was awesome to see the people we talked to show their support and thank us for what we were doing.

An hour and half later, after speaking with several campaign organizers and state senators about ONE, it was time for the speech. Senator McCain walked out and immediately recognized us in our ONE shirts. He stopped to thank us for coming as he shook our hands. Before he started his speech, he took a moment to recognize us as he said: “As I always do, I’d like to recognize our young people from the organization called ONE [...] the epitome of what young America is all about.” (Link to clip on CNN.) On his way out, McCain stopped to thank us for coming. Overall, it was a great experience and I was proud to represent the ONE Campaign.

-Allie Mills, ONE CU-Boulder and Denver ONE

P.S.: This morning we were pleasantly surprised to see the picture above on the front page of the Denver Post. Apparently the Associated Press passed the picture around and a number of papers including the Denver Post and the Washington Post picked it up.