As New Hampshire voters head to the ballot boxes today, I am reflecting with Iowa volunteers about their experience caucusing for ONE last week. We asked members to stand up on caucus night, while the whole country was watching, to show support for life-saving programs in the poorest parts of the world. Watch our slideshow of photos from the event, and read what some of our volunteers had to say:
“The fight against poverty really hits home for me being that I come from a lower income family I can relate to this issue. But even on a deeper level I can appreciate the fight more since I had the chance to see it for myself firsthand.
During my service in the US Navy I was deployed to Senegal and saw how some of the people in even that modernized area had to live, and my heart went out to them. We were unable to drink the local water because it was contaminated.
Also while there, I became ill with malaria. To the locals it was an everyday occurrence but for me, it was life-threatening. I contracted the worst strand and stayed in the hospital for four days then flown to the Naval base in Rota. As a descendant of an African tribe, as a woman and as someone who truly cares, I hope that all the work ONE is doing will bring the much-needed medicines for the malaria and AIDS patients. God bless” -Shanna
On New Year’s Day I boarded a plane at DFW International Airport destined for the fertile plains of Iowa in order to help bring the message of the ONE Campaign to the Caucus goers in the area surrounding Des Moines, Iowa. Little did I realize that I would have the time of my life advocating for the Living Proof solutions found in only 1 percent of the federal budget.
It was an exciting Saturday night in Des Moines, Iowa this past weekend. Megan Berberich and I, members of ONE at Drake University, met with six presidential candidates at the Iowa Faith & Freedom Coalition Fall Banquet/Presidential Forum. We had a chance to talk with Herman Cain, Newt Gingrich, Ron Paul, Rick Perry, Rick Santorum and Michele Bachmann. With each conversation, we gave the candidate a ONE bracelet and asked them to support programs that promote agricultural sustainability.
Anita Perry, presidential candidate and Texas Governor Rick Perry’s wife, was in West Des Moines, Iowa Tuesday to open her husband’s new Iowa campaign office.
As a ONE Vote 2012 ambassador and volunteer, I talked to Mrs. Perry about our work. She was thrilled…I mean, she just lit up when I told her that I am one of 15,000 other Iowans who are dedicated to the fight against extreme poverty and preventable disease.
“Y’all are all over the place,” she exclaimed, before asking whether I had a white band like the one she got in New Hampshire. “Now I have one from Iowa and from New Hampshire!” she said.
Finally, she also thanked me for the great work that ONE accomplishes, and told me to keep her informed.
Whether or not you know what a Straw Poll is, you probably know it’s a big deal in Iowa politics, and you’re right. This Saturday, ONE will be hosting a booth at the Iowa Straw Poll so volunteers can talk with attendees about extreme global poverty and discuss how ONE members are using their voices to eradicate it and make a difference in the lives of millions of people!
Our booth at last year’s Straw Poll. Photo credit: Joe Crimmings
The countdown to the Iowa Straw Poll is on, and the Hawkeye State has really been heating up –- literally! ONE volunteers Jane Murphy and Denise McAleer took on the 100-plus heat indexes in recent days to meet and speak with Governor Tim Pawlenty and Senator Rick Santorum as they criss-cross the state on their respective campaign tours leading up to the big day in Ames on August 13th.
Here’s what each had to say about their experiences:
I was so excited to get the chance to meet and speak with Governor Tim Pawlenty in Coralville, Iowa, a city just down the road from the University of Iowa, this week. I’m the secretary of the Johnson County Republicans, an organization that I’ve been actively involved in for 13 years, and I’m so excited to be a new member of the ONE team!
It was so great to hear Governor Pawlenty talk about the importance of foreign aid even during a budget crisis. He said that now isn’t the time for America to retrench or to eliminate foreign aid, but instead to continue taking a leadership role in the world as it’s vital to our national security. I couldn’t have agreed with him more!
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.
