This weekend, ONE members in the Twin Cities (Minneapolis / St Paul, MN) region are trying something a little different in spreading the word about getting involved to help the worlds poorest people.

On Sunday November 1 from 6-7pm (Central), they will be broadcasting across community radio airwaves on KFAI’s “The Wave Project”. Active ONE members will be talking about advocacy with ONE, the issues, and sharing success stories of the governments and citizens who are successfully moving out of poverty. During the show, a ONE staff member will also join in via a call in interview to discuss a few issues in greater depth.

The show can be heard in The Twin Cities on 90.3FM. Around the world, listeners can tune into www.kfai.org and listen to a live audio stream at 6pm Central Time.

Last weekend several of us went in to the studio and recorded the commercial for the show which was a lot of fun. But more than just having a good time, we are really looking forward to engaging and informing listeners in our community who have not heard of ONE.

-The Twin Cities ONE Team

Since 1986 a special award has been given out every year in Des Moines, IA. The World Food Prize honors individuals who have advanced human development by improving quality, quantity or availability of food in the world, without regard to race, religion, or political beliefs.

The award is the brainchild of the late Dr. Norman Borlaug, a native Iowan and the father of the Green revolution who saved millions of people from starvation by developing high-yielding wheat. Dr. Borlaug won a Nobel Peace Prize in 1970 for his scientific advancements in Agriculture, but envisioned a prize that specifically recognized those who have made a significant improvement to the world’s food supply. More importantly Dr. Borlaug hoped this prize would create role models and inspire others.

The week includes many events highlighting food and agriculture starting with a lecture last night by Dr. Hans Herren, a 1995 World Food Prize Laureate, on the U.S. impact on Global Food Security. There was also a lecture at Iowa State University with this years Laureate, Gebisa Ejeta on revitalizing agriculture research for global food security.

Today the third annual Iowa Hunger Summit gathers leaders from all industries in the state together to celebrate the outstanding efforts of Iowans to ensure adequate food for all.

The World Food Prize officially starts tomorrow with the famous Borlaug Symposium, which will be attended by several hundred participants from over 65 countries focusing on how these various fields of industry, policy, science, development and academia, can work together to attain food and nutrition security for all people.

A variety of topics will be covered at the symposium related to food security, nutrition, agriculture, development, gender issues, preserving soil and water resources, and trade. The speakers will address these issues and many more over the next three days.

Of course, one speaker in particular will be greatly missed this year. I know Dr. Borlaug is proud of the World Food Prize and his legacy will live on inspiring future leaders to make a difference in the lives of others.

-Libby Crimmings

Last week I visited Senators Chuck Grassley and Tom Harkin’s Des Moines offices to deliver petitions for the ‘Water for the World’ Act signed by Iowans. At Senator Harkin’s office, I met with John Moreland and at Senator Grassley’s, I talked with Erin Kytola and Aaron McKay.

Both offices were familiar with ONE and impressed with the number of Iowans who were supportive of the act. I encouraged them to ask the Senators to co-sponsor the legislation and they said they will gladly be in contact with them about the petition.

-Abbey Moffitt, ONE Member

Last Thursday ONE members met with representatives from the Des Moines offices of Senators Tom Harkin and Charles Grassley to discuss the importance of combating extreme poverty across the globe. The representatives were encouraged to support President Obama’s 1.4 billion dollar request for global agricultural efforts. We also discussed the decline of developmental assistance in agriculture in the last 25 years and how last year’s global food crisis pushed over 40 million people into hunger.

ONE members also told them about the Water for the World Act, which seemed to win praise from everyone at the meeting. At the meeting’s conclusion, the state office reps agreed to jump in for a photo with the ONE members and were open to more meetings in the future!

-Nicholas Webb, IA ONE member

Friday night, ONE volunteers in Des Moines joined Oxfam at a Coldplay concert to create lasting solutions to poverty, hunger, and injustice around the world. Volunteers talked to over 1,000 people to encourage them to tell President Obama the make a fair deal when the global climate conference occurs in December. Natural disasters are known to hit the poorest populations the hardest, but this can be prevented by building stronger foundations and infrastructure.

ONE members gave the volunteer coordinator for Oxfam on the Coldplay tour, Soha Yassine, a ONE pin that she now always wears with her backstage pass. The partnership shows that when we come together to raise awareness we can truly help the world’s poorest people.

-Abbey Moffitt, ONE Member

Last week I was honored to have the opportunity to meet with Congressman Dave Loebsack (Iowa-5th) and his district manager, Rob Sueppel in Cedar Rapids to discuss ONE and some current legislative priorities. The congressman was very supportive of ONE and listened with great interest as we walked through material on the campaign I provided for them.

I asked the congressman to please support the President’s full requested amount of nearly $52 billion for the foreign operations bill which will continue international life saving programs and development assistance. He said he would be willing to support the president’s full request.

I also asked the congressman to support H.R. 2139, the ‘Initiating Foreign Aid Reform’ Act, which directs the president to develop a comprehensive national development strategy to modernize and improve US aid effectiveness. He said will take a look into it and hopefully co-sponsor the bill as well.

In further conversation, I told congressman Loebsack about the Big Read project and my story which appeared on the ONE Blog. The congressman is on the Education and Labor Committee, as well as the Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary and Secondary Education. He is a former college professor and has even taken students on trips to areas of extreme poverty. He seemed very receptive to being a primary supporter of the Big Read objective — $2 billion in education funding — if and when that comes before the Congress.

Finally, I told them about some of the campaign activity locally and plans I have for outreach within the faith community as well as local colleges in the fall.

Before he left I gave a white ONE band to both Congressman Loebsack and Mr. Suppel, which they both enthusiastically took and wore.

It was a great meeting and I sincerely thank the congressman and his staff for taking the time to talk to me about these important life saving pieces of legislation.

-Thad Collins, Iowa ONE Member

Wednesday night, after reading an article in The Washington Trade Daily about new U.S policies towards improving trade with Africa, I called into the television show “Ask Your Senator” featuring Senator Chuck Grassley (IA) to hear the senator’s opinion on the issue.

The article mentioned how it is essential for Africa to rebound quickly from declining trade flows during this period of economic shortcomings. On Wednesday, the assistant US trade representative for Africa, Florizelle Liser, launched a new initiative to encourage more US investment in Africa. I asked Senator Grassley specifically about what opportunities, especially in trade, he sees for Africa moving forward into the future.

Senator Grassley responded by stating that he has worked twice on free trade bills that encourage investments in Africa by reducing barriers on imports. He believes that this legislation is the framework for future investments in Africa because it gives them the ability to sell their products effectively.

-Abbey Moffitt, Iowa ONE Member

Early Friday morning I went to an event where Congressman Leonard Boswell, of Iowa’s 3rd district, was catching up with some local Young Professionals over coffee.

I have been a constituent of Congressman Boswell since I could first vote and am currently 8 months pregnant with my first child. I know how extremely lucky I am and very grateful for the wonderful healthcare my child and I are receiving. I know that many women around the world do not have these opportunities and this year over a half a million women will die because of pregnancy and childbirth. In addition, over 9 million children (that’s 25,000 per day, or 17 per second) under the age of 5 will die as well because of preventable treatable causes. 97% of these deaths occur in developing countries where mothers have no access to simple healthcare, medicine or even sanitation during birth.

As a very hormonal and emotional soon to be mother my heart goes out to these women and children and that’s why I wanted to talk to the Congressman today. Rep. McCollum of MN, and Rep. Reichert of WA introduced a bi-partisan bill called the Newborn, Child & Mother Survival Act which if enacted will provide cost effective, proven interventions that will save the lives of millions of children and their mothers. I encouraged the Congressman to support and co-sponsor this important life saving bill not only as a constituent but also as a ONE member, I am one of over 3,500 members in his district.

His staff members said that Congressman Boswell is very supportive of bills like this. We also discussed recent activity such as the Powerful Noise documentary by ONE’s partner organization CARE, and International Women’s Day. It was good to see the Congressman and get a chance to talk in person about this very important bill, I hope to hear back from his staff about his decision to support it soon!

-Libby Crimmings

ONE’s informational packets are making their way from ONE members hands to member’s of Congress’ offices across the nation. Below are some quick notes and photos from recent deliveries:

Last week the University of Iowa’s ONE chapter paid a visit to Congressman Dave Loebsack’s Iowa City office to deliver a packet of information about ONE and the issues of extreme poverty and preventable disease. The packet also included info about ONE in Iowa as well as his particular district. At Congressman Loebsack’s office I met with his District Representative, David Leshtz, and sat down with him to discuss ONE in more detail.

Mr. David Leshtz had many questions about what the University of Iowa campus was doing with ONE and what we have coming up for the future. I informed him that right now we are working on getting recognized by the University and the Student Government as an official group. Mr. Leshtz was very helpful and wanted me to keep him updated on anything going on with ONE in the local area, he also informed me that Congressman Loebsack is a firm believer in the goals of ONE and would love to continue working with the organization and supporting us in our work. All in all it was a pretty awesome visit to the Congressman’s office!

-Caitlin Hillman, ONE Student Member University of Iowa

Yesterday, I delivered a ONE info pack to the office of new member of congress for PA District 3, Rep. Kathy Dahlkemper. At the office, I introduced ONE and delivered the packet to her regional representative, Simone Baer.

I spoke about the issues of poverty in the developing world and the priority our elected leaders must place on finding solutions. I requested a future meeting with the congresswoman’s staff and look forward to continuing this discussion

-Jonathan Withers, PA ONE member

I delivered a ONE info pack to Rep. John Murtha’s office today and requested a future meeting with the congressman’s staff. I hope that Rep. Murtha will use his standing on the House Appropriations Committee to make possible the allocations and funding necessary to help those most in need; people living around the world in poverty and under the oppression of preventable and curable diseases.

-Nick Hudson, PA ONE member

On Friday morning I stopped into three offices of my US Congress members to personally deliver a letter and a packet about ONE. At each of the offices I spoke to a district representative; Dave Campbell for Congressman Boswell, Kevin Condon for Senator Harkin and Aaron McKay for Senator Grassley.

I asked the representatives to urge the Congress members to not turn our back to the world’s most venerable people, even in these tough economic times. I hope the Congress members will strive to keep America’s role as global leader by supporting smart and affordable strategies that have been proven to deliver results.

-Libby Crimmings

Check out more pictures below!
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