Last week, ONE champion and co-chair of the bipartisan House Hunger Caucus, Rep. Jim McGovern spoke at Becker College in Worcester, Mass., where he spoke candidly about the vital importance of US foreign assistance in fighting extreme poverty.
ONE members caught up with Massachusetts Senator Scott Brown again this weekend, this time at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library in Boston. Other ONE Members previously saw him in Dallas and California.
During the senator’s book tour event, which included a forum discussion on wide ranging topics, including US involvement in Libya, Sen. Brown offered a stirring case for US intervention around the world in its role as a “country for good.”
36 handwritten letters were personally delivered to the Boston offices of Massachusetts Senators John Kerry and Scott Brown on Monday. These letters, written by local ONE members during our Boston advocacy workshop on Saturday, highlighted the need for an additional US investment of $1.75 Billion this year to continue the proven and effective life saving programs of the Global Fund.
It was a great opportunity for Massachusetts ONE members to come together to draw attention once again to the plight of those suffering around the world and seek action from our leaders in the fight against HIV/AIDS, malaria and TB.
Last Thursday night at an event in Boston, MA, ONE member Phillip Williams was able to meet President Obama and briefly advocate for ONE. He wrote me from the event:
All good. Was able to hand him a ONE band in a handshake but was reaching over someone. Got a nod when he looked at it. Wasn’t able to talk but I’m sure we will cross paths again.
Using your voice for ONE can be a powerful action that can help save millions of lives in the developing world. From passing a ONE band to the President of the United States, to making a call today to your Senator urging them to sign onto the Bipartisan Budget Letter that would uphold the International Affairs Budget – your voice matters and can make the difference!
Today, ONE member Phillip Williams met with his US Congressional Representative, Jim McGovern of MA. Phillip took time to explain ONE to Rep. McGovern and let him know that in 2009, it is not only possible to fight global disease and extreme poverty, but it is a priority!
Phillip told me that Rep. McGovern was very familiar with ONE’s issues and agenda as he is already a co-sponsor of Education for All, Jubilee, and Global Child Survival Act. And as a member of the House Budget Committee, Phillip asked Rep. McGovern to hold, or increase the upcoming budget number for the international affairs account – the part of the budget that contains all of the US’s global life saving humanitarian programs. Rep. McGovern said that he understood the importance of these issues and mentioned how global development ultimately leads to greater national safely and security at home.
Today Phillip took time to let his Representative know that saving lives in the poorest parts of the world is an important issues to him and he urged action in the 111th Congress. But ONE members everywhere should follow the lead of Phillip and contact their new Senators and Representatives to let them know about ONE and our efforts to fight global disease and extreme – stupid – poverty.
On Saturday, the ONE Bus headed south to Waltham, MA, to Brandeis University to hold an event with students and their global poverty fighting group called Positive Foundations. Group leaders Allyson and Aka were there to welcome the ONE Bus on campus and we set up shop, explaining ONE to students and signing people up to help add voices in the fight against global disease and extreme poverty.
Hundreds of new people signed up at Brandeis, and stay tuned to the ONE blog for more events and activities with the ONE Bus. You never know what campus or political event the ONE Bus will be at next, but it is a great way to help raise the profile for ONE and the world’s poorest people!
The Millennium Campus Network held a conference this past weekend to discuss global poverty and health. ONE’s former intern, Sam Vaghar, helped create this new network of Boston area colleges and universities, and their conference hosted over 700 students and included top global health experts like Ira Magaziner, Dr. Paul Farmer, as well as an event with musician John Legend and Dr. Jeff Sachs.
I attended the first day of the event at MIT and immediately noticed a few ONE shirts and many, many ONE bands. After opening statements and a very good speech by Sam, the keynote address was given by former presidential candidate Sen. John Edwards. In his speech, Sen. Edwards spoke about his travels to Uganda and the extreme poverty he witnessed in Africa. He spoke about the need to fight AIDS and malaria to help bring stability to poor nations and citied America’s moral standing in the world.
After his speech, I was able to briefly speak with Sen. Edwards and thanked him for raising the issues of global poverty while on the campaign trail. We even talked about the global poverty speech he gave in New Hampshire.
From the campaign trail to the colleges campuses, people everywhere are organizing and realizing that in today’s world, that we have the resources to fight global disease and end extreme – less than a dollar a day – poverty.
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.
36 handwritten letters were personally delivered to the Boston offices of Massachusetts Senators John Kerry and Scott Brown on Monday. These letters, written by local ONE members during our Boston advocacy workshop on Saturday, highlighted the need for an additional US investment of $1.75 Billion this year to continue the proven and effective life saving programs of the Global Fund.
