ONE members enjoyed support from elected leaders, presidential candidates and voters from both political parties and all walks of life in the days leading up to today’s Florida primary. ONE Vote Organizer Thomas Leary reports.
Last week, only days to go before Florida voters cast their ballots, fellow ONE member Zach Lamb and I attended a State of the Union watch party hosted by the Jacksonville Young Democrats, a group eager to help build support for the fight against extreme poverty and preventable diseases. Since ONE is a nonpartisan organization, I suggested that promoting ONE within the community might be a great opportunity to reach out and partner with the Young Republicans. And so began a fun few days delivering on ONE Vote 2012.
ONE Vote Organizer Charlie Harris reports from the Florida primary.
In my last post, I showed you some of the really cool things that can happen in a day in the life of a ONE Vote organizer. But sometimes, things don’t always go as planned. Such has been the case for my recent exploits down here in the Sunshine State in the build up to the primary. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not going to complain about being near the beach, but patience is definitely a virtue on the campaign trail.
Thursday, I made the two-hour trek down to Pensacola, Fla., from where I am staying with family in Panama City Beach. As soon as I arrived at what was to be an event with presidential candidate Sen. Rick Santorum, a torrential downpour made the event soggy and unpleasant for someone who forgot their umbrella. But luckily, I had a cool ONE hoodie nearby (shameless ONE Store plug, check them out). To my dismay, the crowd gathered was told that Senator Santorum couldn’t land due to the severe weather threat, and thus I trudged back to my car for what was not looking like a fun ride back. But when life gives you severe weather that makes road conditions hazardous, get FroYo until the storm passes!
Join fellow South Florida ONE members on Saturday, November 19 at the Bayside Rocks Festival at beautiful Bayfront Park in downtown Miami, Florida. ONE will have a booth at the event to sign up new members and build our movement of poverty-fighting individuals like you.
Clouds and a few rain showers couldn’t slow down ONE volunteers at the U2 concert in Miami, Florida. Thirty volunteers from as far away as North Carolina canvassed parking lots, lines and the Sun Life Stadium signing up 3,547 concert goers as new ONE members! When U2 came on stage, thousands of new members could be seen around the stadium wearing their “I Am ONE” bands.
Senator Marco Rubio took some time this week to answer a few letters from his constituents in Florida. One of the questions was about foreign aid — and surprisingly, it came from a 14-year-old boy named Will from Palm Bay. “I think it’s crazy that we’re spending all this money to help others when we are the ones who need help,” his letter said. “I’d like to see that money go toward us, the United States of America.”
Sen. Rubio told Will that we have to be more careful where we spend our foreign aid, but our perception of how much we actually spend is exaggerated, and is not the reason why we have growing debt in America. “If it’s done right, it can spread America’s influence around the world,” he said. I won’t tell you his whole answer, so listen to his response in the video below:
Two years ago, Ms. Cynthia Lebron took on the role of adviser to the ONE club at the Somerset Academy Charter School located in Pembroke Pines, Florida. Under her guidance, the students have organized a number of awareness activities in order to get the rest of the school talking about ONE and how each student can use their voice to help fight poverty and preventable disease.
This year for World AIDS Day, the group created the PSA below in an effort to continue educating the community about how we can help raise awareness of the global impact of HIV/AIDS. Take a minute to check it out, and be sure to check out ONE’s volunteer resources to learn about how you can get involved.
Yesterday, the Pembroke Pines Charter High School faculty and student body gathered outside to rally in support of ONE’s fight to ensure that no child is born with HIV by 2015. More than 200 students showed up with signs and flags to help get the message across, all while donning ONE shirts.
During the event, many of the students took some time to record their ONE wish for World AIDS Day. Check out what they had to say and be sure to tweet your ONE wish this week!
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.
