Thank you to all the ONE members that turned out in force on Saturday! It was energizing to see more than 200 people join us in learning how we can become more effective advocates for the world’s poor.

The Florida ONE Conference may be over, but there are still plenty of ways you can get involved in the coming weeks!

1. Attend the next ONE Volunteer Meeting in Miami to get more involved – June 20, 2009 from 2-3pm at Studio 1415 located at 1415 NE 129th Street, North Miami, Florida
2. Connect with other ONE members in your area by joining or starting a local ONE group online at www.one.org/team.
3. Write a letter to the editor. There is no better way to let people know your own opinion about efforts to fight extreme poverty, than to write a letter to the editor in your local papers. You can contact your field organizer to get ideas for letters you could write.
4. Spread the word! Encourage your friends and family members to join ONE at www.one.org.
5. Please call your Representative and both Senators and ask them to talk with their colleagues on the Appropriations Committee to allocate 51.7 billion for the State, Foreign Operations bill. Call the U.S. Capitol Switchboard and be connected directly to your Members office: (202) 224-3121.

Building on the energy and great networking we began on Saturday, I hope to see each of you at the next ONE Miami group meeting on June 20. For more information, please join the Miami on-line discussion group at www.one.org/team.

-Sara Paterni

The long anticipated Florida ONE Membership has come and gone. Because of the diligent work on behalf of Sara Paterni and the good people at ONE Headquarters, Florida ONE members not only received advocacy training, but also were able to network with ONE volunteers from all over the state and collaborate on ideas for future activities and events. David Lane kicked off the conference with a special message of inspiration. We heard from esteemed guest speakers who left us with important information to guide us through our work as volunteers.

Although ONE headquarters worked very hard to put together this event, they also offered Miami volunteers an opportunity to take part in the presentations. This was greatly appreciated, because it gave the ONE Miami crew an opportunity to meet and connect with the new recruits and old veterans. ONE Miami members and the students of ONE Pines Charter High School lead break-out sessions on event planning, legislative visits, college and high school coordination, etc. We talked one-on-one with potential new members and are looking forward to connecting with many of them in the future.

Overall, the event was a success and we are excited to see what the future holds for ONE Florida!

-Danielle DePas, FL ONE

This Saturday, the first ever ONE Membership Conference will be held in Miami, Florida. The ONE conference will feature presentations from ONE staff, Gabe Lazier from The Alliance To End Hunger, and highlight Florida ONE Member activity and congressional engagement. We are also very excited that ONE’s CEO David Lane will be on hand to deliver opening remarks.

The conference aims to further educate and develop ONE’s grassroots support and expand congressional support for international life saving efforts. This will be a very exciting event, and we here at ONE view this as a direct investment in our most valuable resources…our ONE membership!

There will be plenty of information, prizes, and free ONE gear for those that recruit and bring new ONE members to the ONE conference. So please join us this Saturday from 1:00pm to 6:00pm in Miami, and please register here now to save a place.

Stay tuned to the ONE Blog for updates from the Florida ONE Membership Conference and local Florida ONE members.

And if you cannot join us, we hope you can join us at the next ONE Membership Conference. Location and details to be named soon!

-Matthew Bartlett

I have great news for Florida ONE members. We have just finalized the details on our first ever official ONE Membership Conference in Florida, which will be held at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Miami on Saturday, May 30th from 1:00—6:00 p.m.

The conference will feature workshops, experts from ONE and other poverty-fighting groups and lots of opportunities to meet other ONE members and learn how to be an even more effective advocate for the world’s most vulnerable people. There will also be prizes and ONE gear for everyone that attends this free event.

Space is limited, so please RSVP now to save your spot and get all the details.

Event details:

What: ONE Membership Conference
Where: Hyatt Regency Hotel, 400 SE 2nd Street, Miami, FL 33131
When: Saturday May 30, 2009

The ONE Conference will be an exciting opportunity to learn more about issues related to extreme poverty and global disease, and how your voice can help save millions of lives around the world. This is our chance to take an up-close look at policy, government, community organizing and many more elements of anti-poverty advocacy. Most importantly, we’ll get a chance to hear from you!

I’m also pleased to announce that Gabriel Lazier from The Alliance to End Hunger will be joining us as a special guest speaker.

Thank you and I look forward to seeing you at the ONE Conference.

http://www.one.org/event/events/event.html?event_id=956

See you soon,

-Sara Paterni, FL ONE Field Organizer

Yesterday I met with students from the Leadership Academy West High School in West Palm Beach, Florida to talk about how they can help raise awareness about global poverty and preventable diseases like HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis. Thanks to the support and encouragement from their professor, Dr. David Zimet, the students are energized about joining ONE and reaching out to their local elected officials to let them know that West Palm Beach is committed to the fight against extreme poverty and preventable disease!

-Sara Paterni

Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, ranking member on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, held a grand opening celebration at her new district office in Miami, Florida last Wednesday. I met up with fellow ONE member, Alix Gordon for the big event.

The office opening drew people many from the community, including representatives from ONE’s partners: Bread for the World, CARE and RESULTS. Shortly after arriving we were ushered over to greet the Congresswoman and take an official photo. She took one look at our ONE shirts and in front of a very crowded room gave us a warm welcome and thanked us for coming out to the event.

We are very thankful for the invitation to attend the event and look forward to continuing our relationship with Rep. Ros-Lehtinen and her staff.

-Sara Paterni, FL ONE Field Organizer

This morning I joined Pembroke Pines Charter High School students Jorge Jurado, Andre Riley, Ruben Ferrer, Juan Noguera and their teacher Ms. Danielle DePas at the Miramar City Hall for a meeting with Mayor Lori Moseley.

Mayor Moseley listened enthusiastically as the students spoke about their efforts through the Pines Charter High School ONE Club to increase awareness in the community and with our local political leaders about extreme poverty and global disease, especially in Africa and developing countries.

We arranged the meeting with the intent to ask Mayor Moseley to declare Miramar a ONE city and to let her know about our efforts to get every Mayor in Broward County, Florida on board so we can put ONE Broward County on the map. Mayor Moseley not only agreed to issue us a proclamation declaring Miramar a ONE city, but told us she would go even further and present our request to the Broward League of Cities to help introduce this idea to other Broward County mayors.

We cannot thank her enough for her support! With Mayor Moseley’s help we are continuing to build the political will at all levels of government and across all partisan lines to ensure that fighting poverty and saving lives remains a priority for the U.S.

-Sara Paterni, FL Field Organizer

Yesterday I went with ONE member, Patrick Donaldson to meet with Representative Tom Rooney’s staffer, Clint Starling. Mr. Starling was familiar with ONE, and was pleased to find out that there are close to 2,500 ONE members living in the Congressman’s district.

During the meeting we encouraged Rep. Rooney to support President Obama’s 2010 Budget requests for International Affairs and asked him to sign on as a cosponsor to H.R. 1410, the Newborn, Child and Mother Survival Act. He thanked us for our commitment to fight extreme poverty and support these important issues through grassroots organization.

We were excited to update him about all the great things ONE members have been doing in Florida and are hopeful that Representative Rooney will demonstrate strong leadership on ONE’s legislative priorities for fighting extreme poverty in the world.

It was a great meeting and we look forward to continuing our relationship with Rep. Rooney’s staff!

-Sara Paterni

Yesterday I left my flip flops behind and headed west to check out the Thursday night worship service held by Reformation, the high school student ministry at the Calvary Chapel Worship Center in New Port Richey, Florida. During the month of March, Reformation dedicates each Thursday evening service to a different social justice cause.

In the past they have featured organizations like Habitat for Humanity and Compassion International and yesterday, Youth Pastor John David Harris invited me to speak with the group about ONE and our efforts here in Florida to press government leaders to fight extreme poverty and preventable diseases.

After the worship service Pastor Harris asked me to come up on the stage where I fielded questions about how to get involved with ONE locally and what keeps me personally inspired to fight for better and increased assistance for poor countries. Pastor Harris then spoke about the importance of giving back to the community and becoming informed about poverty and preventable diseases in developing countries. He encouraged and reminded the group that “anybody committed to their community, dedicated to justice, driven to worship, with a passion for devotion is not only a part of Reformation, but is the living and breathing Reformation.”

I also had the opportunity to speak about ONE Sabbath, ONE’s initiative to help provide opportunities within the faith community to learn more about global health and poverty issues. I encouraged everyone there to get involved with ONE Sabbath and begin planning different ways they can continue to engage their peers and inspire the community to take action against poverty.

By the end of the night nearly everyone there had signed up to be ONE members and promised to remain committed to making a difference in the fight against extreme poverty. It was an amazing experience and as I drove home last night I couldn’t help but feel even more inspired by this amazing group of revolutionaries!

-Sara Paterni, ONE Field Organizer

On Tuesday Miami ONE member Alix Gordon and I went along with Jenni Rothenberg from the U.S. Global Leadership Campaign to meet with the offices of Florida Representatives Kendrick Meek (D-FL-17) and Alcee Hastings (D-FL-23).

During both meetings we asked for support of President Obama’s request for a $4.5 billion dollar increase in the International Affairs budget as well as for support of the reauthorization of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961-which will ensure that there is unified U.S. development assistance policy and sufficient resources to meet the challenges of reducing poverty.

During our meeting with Joyce Postell, District Director for Representative Meek, we thanked her for her boss’s support of the PEPFAR reauthorization and for cosponsoring the Jubilee Act in the last Congress. We also encouraged Rep. Meek to support President Obama’s International Affairs budget request to make sure we are taking the steps necessary to work towards global stability and improving America’s image abroad.

Later the same day we met with Patricia Williams, the Deputy District Director for Representative Hastings in his Fort Lauderdale office. We are pleased to report that Representative Hastings has already signed onto a support letter to the House Budget Committee Chairman asking for the $4.5 billion increase in the International Affairs budget.

As ONE members, we know that a robust International Affairs budget will not only help boost U.S. efforts to fight HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria, but also provide America with opportunities to build global stability and generate much needed allies.

-Sara Paterni, FL ONE Field Organizer