Last Saturday, the town of Dexter, Mich., came together to celebrate Airplane Day, a unique advocacy event that commemorates the life and legacy of Laurence Carolin, a Dexter teen who passed away due to brain cancer two years ago.

Laurence was a truly incredible and selfless individual who was passionately involved with ONE and committed to raising awareness about the fight against poverty and disease. He even dedicated the last year of his life to this cause and donated all of his Make-A-Wish Foundation money to the United Nations Foundation, one of ONE’s partners. Laurence’s compassion was so inspiring that he was not only invited to meet Bono (a co-founder of ONE), but even inspired his family and friends to commit to carrying on his legacy of activism. Airplane Day is the culmination of this promise on the date that marks Laurence’s arrival in the US after he was adopted from his birth country of South Korea.

This year’s Airplane Day was an amazing experience and a true testament to the ability of just one voice to motivate and mobilize an entire community. In fact, the event was largely organized by a new ONE chapter at Dexter High School that was founded by a group of Laurence’s friends. Our University of Michigan ONE chapter was also empowered by Laurence’s story, so some of our leaders have been working closely with this group to help establish and run the organization. Through the combined efforts of Laurence’s friends, family and both ONE chapters, the event was a huge success, filled with great music, inspirational speeches and advocacy of all forms.

Furthermore, this event brought together people of all ages to learn about Laurence’s passions and ONE. Thus, throughout the event, both ONE groups were able to engage participants in conversations about ONE’s mission and inspire them to get involved. By the end of the night, we had signed up around 50 new members. We also generated 32 petition signatures for Feed the Future, 35 photo petitions to President Obama, and more than 40 letters to the Securities and Exchange Commission. Furthermore, the event inspired many more to pledge to hold their national leaders accountable in the fight to end extreme poverty and disease as well as to donate money to the United Nations Foundation.

Observing the ripple effects of Laurence’s compassion on Saturday was extremely moving. Though Laurence may no longer be with us, I truly believe his legacy will never die and his selfless dedication to ending extreme poverty will continue to empower all of us until one day his dream becomes a reality.

-Chelsea Davis, ONE member, Michigan

About 30 ONE volunteers approached 70,000 people attending the U2 concert in East Lansing, Michigan, adding 3,257 new members to the existing 2.5 million members of ONE. Each signature also supported the GAVI vaccine petition, which will help save four million premature childhood deaths by 2015. ONE members from as far as South Carolina and Ohio engaged concert attendees alongside Amnesty International and the Aung San Suu Kyi Charity in the summertime heat for nearly five hours on the Michigan State University campus.

Steve Radelet, chief economist at USAID, was also seen at the concert. ONE members had the opportunity to hear from Steve in April at the ONE Summit, which gave volunteers from across the nation the opportunity to engage their state representatives on Capitol Hill.

“This is something we want to look back on, and be proud that we were a part of.” said GVSU volunteer Zac Lantz. U2 shows amplify the message of ONE to the world that together we can work to make a difference for the world’s poorest.

-William Dorn and Aaron Vince, ONE Congressional District Leaders (SC 4, MI 3)

The University of Michigan’s “Food Fight” campaign rallied their campus and community in the fight against extreme poverty and specifically, global hunger. They delivered 1,000 custom ONE coffee sleeves across campus to raise visibility, took over campus common areas, and concluded their efforts with an educational dinner and karaoke night. With 885 letters, 116 phone calls, and 150 petition signatures, they successfully rallied more than 1150 voices together in the fight against global hunger.

As OCC winners, University of Michigan students will be heading to ONE headquarters in D.C. to get an insider’s look at ONE’s work in the fight against extreme poverty and preventable disease. While they’re in town they’ll help plan next season’s OCC and meet with their elected officials on Capitol Hill. Then they’ll hit the road with us to Philadelphia to see U2′s show!

Join me in congratulating the Wolverines!

One of the pending bills was the Berman Initiating Foreign Assistance Reform Act – HR 2139, a true reform bill, which focuses on improving the effectiveness of our foreign aid. It directs the President to develop a comprehensive national development strategy by better defining the roles of USG departments and agencies, improving coordination, and increasing the monitoring and evaluation of U.S. development programs. ONE supports the goal of this legislation.

On July 30, 2009, Congressman Peters signed on as a co-sponsor of the bill. He graciously remitted a letter to me, on behalf of ONE, in which he stated, “In consideration for your support for this bill, I have reviewed it closely and found that it would establish common sense measures to allow for greater taxpayer transparency while making our existing foreign assistance funding more effective. I have decided to cosponsor this important legislation, and plan to support it when it comes to the floor of the House for a vote.” The Congressman further pledged to monitor the status of other bills.

It is a pleasure, as a ONE supporter in Michigan, to know that Congressman Peters will take a common sense, practical stand to ensure that U.S. aid to poverty-stricken countries will be effective.

-Stephen Scapelliti, Michigan ONE member

PS, check out the letter here (click “more” for the second page)

I explained to him that maintaining the proposed budget level of investment in the poorest nations helps to provide an essential infrastructure, which increases financial stability of those countries and improves the health of their citizens. I told him that, while some are looking for a means of offsetting our domestic stimulus budget by reducing foreign aid, the United States derives a direct benefit from maintaining foreign aid, because it helps persons in those nations to become productive and lead healthier lives, and because it reduces the influence of extremist factions which threaten security both here and abroad. He stated that these are among the issues which the Congressman and his staff are addressing. He said that he both understood and agreed with the connection between foreign aid and the benefit to the US.

Alex stated that the Congressman has been supportive of the President’s other proposals and that, while he cannot speak for the Congressman, he expects that he will support the International Affairs Budget as it stands. He will address this first with the other staff members and then will review it with Rep. Peters. He asked whether I would be available to meet with them again in the coming weeks, and I agreed to do so. He indicated that after learning more about ONE, he is supportive of its goals and would convey that to Rep. Peters. He also asked me to feel free to contact him about any other issues or pending legislation which ONE would like the Congressman to consider.

-Stephen Scapelliti, Michigan ONE Volunteer

Featured Plenary speakers included Abikök Riak from World Vision as well as Katherine Marshall from the Berkley Center at Georgetown University and the World Faiths Development Dialogue – both stressing the importance of partnerships between the NGO and faith communities In the afternoon I’ll be leading a couple breakout sessions on Advocacy as ONE and the opportunities ahead of us in 2009-2010 to act effectively in the fight against global poverty and disease.

The weekend was also about collaboration among many organizations working together to end global poverty –World Vision, Bread for the World, Christian Reformed World Relief Committee, World Hope International and Food for the Hungry are all here. Students from Indiana Wesleyan, Hope College, Calvin College, King’s University, Michigan State University, and many others were able to interact with the organizations throughout the weekend in forums, breakout sessions, and at a Fair Trade Fair.

As the soundtrack to the conference, we were also treated to some great music acts. K’Naan, brought his mix of hip-hop, rock, and world beats coupled with his lyrics on growing up in Mogadishu, Somalia and The Psalters displayed their diverse sound and socially conscious message.

Check out Isaac Fuchs, Calvin student and co-director of the 2009 conference sharing his thoughts on the work of ONE and partnership for development.

-Adam Phillips

Since football is one of the greatest traditions here,we thought it would be a great place to start. With that, one of the favorite things students like to do at games here (and many other places) is blow up beach balls and send them flying throughout the crowd. Piggy-backing on this idea – we got together and spray painted beach balls all black and then painted the ONE logo in white on them. We did this at an awesome pre-game tailgate with our ONE members.

When we launched the balls in the air we got a lot of questions about what the logo meant and why we were doing it. It made for a fun picture and was definitely a great way to get the word out. Just because the administration or faculty are being difficult doesn’t mean there is nothing left to try – think outside the box a little and it can end up being the best action you take.

-Stephanie Parrish, University of Michigan ’11

Today, along with other ONE and RESULTS members, I met with Congressman Joe Knollenberg (MI-9) and asked him to include additional funding for the Global Fund in his “wish list” letter to the chair and ranking member of State and Foreign Operations Appropriations Subcommittee. (As a member of this committee, Congressman Knollenberg is uniquely positioned to send a “wish list” letter detailing his key funding priorities for fiscal year 2009).

This year the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB & Malaria needs $6 billion to fight three of the world’s most devastating diseases, HIV/AIDS, malaria and TB. I asked Congressman Knollenberg to include $2 billion for the Global Fund in his “wish list” letter because 1/3 of the $6 billion is the United States’ (proportionate) share.

Brenda Hawkins from ONE Detroit talked about the ONE Campaign. Shawn Ciavattone, Congressman Knollenberg’s District Field Director, shared that a friend gave his infant son a “onesie” with the ONE logo and explained what ONE is all about.

I would like my ONE brothers and sisters to know that the Congressman treated me like a neighbor. So, if you are ever asked to meet with your elected leaders, be the voice for the voiceless and ask them to support additional funding to fight extreme poverty and global disease.

With temperatures near 0 degrees fahrenheit this morning, it might have been easy for some to decide to skip this meeting with Congressman Knollenberg today. But I decided that regardless of the weather, I had to go. This meeting was about increasing resources for the very poor. So, if we’re going to end poverty, ONE by ONE, we have to go to important meetings like this.

-Linda Butler, ONE Member, Detroit, MI

-Virginia Simmons

“Well, the materials are all packed up, the tent has been disassembled and the 2007 Ann Arbor Art Fair is over. Many more people now know about ONE. The final count is that 563 people signed the ONE declaration over 4 days. For some of the ONE volunteers, it was their first time chance to work a table at an event!”

Highlights include: WCBN-FM, the University of Michigan student-run radio station, came around on Wednesday afternoon to interview ONE and RESULTS member, Lisa Treumuth. The interviewer asked if the U.S. increased foreign aid by 1%, what should it be used for? (Lisa probably thought, “I’m so glad you asked.”) She told listeners about the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria, the importance of funding global education (and why many children are not in school due to school fees), and microcredit (where poor women get small loans to start micro-businesses to feed their families).

The Michigan groups are now unstoppable and I hope they serve as an inspiration to ONE groups everywhere!

- Katie Andrews, ONE Regional Field Organizer