On a sweltering Sunday afternoon in July, ONE volunteers from across the Midwest gathered in St. Louis to “get loud” in the fight against extreme poverty and preventable disease. Taking advantage of the largest event to hit Busch Stadium since the Beatles, ONE members signed up 2,374 new members at U2’s 360 tour.
But this was no ordinary day in the Gateway City. Record heat and humidity brought challenges to even the most experienced volunteers. Despite the obstacles, ONE’s voice just became deafeningly louder. And thanks to the army of men and women proudly displaying their black ONE T-shirts at the stadium, millions of children in Africa will have a better chance of living full and healthy lives as a groundswell of support is voiced for the funding of GAVI (the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunizations).
Yesterday I stopped by Senator Bond and Senator McCaskill’s offices in St. Louis to drop of a bunch of hand written letters from local ONE members thanking the Senators for their leadership on past legislation and asking for support of $125 Million for the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunizations GAVI for fiscal year 2011.
The gentlemen I spoke to at the offices were nice and very interested in what I had to say. I told them that I represented over 24,000 ONE members in Missouri and explained what we do as advocates for the worlds poorest people. I also explained that GAVI has provided 267 immunization for children in developing countries and averted millions of deaths and expressed our hope that our Senators will support this important life-saving alliance by making sure it is robustly funded at $125 Million. We wrote these letters at our ONE workshop in St. Louis and the two senators’ staff were most impressed that we took time out of our day to hand deliver them!
They were very helpful, promised to open all the letters and then forward them to their Washington, DC offices!
I was extremely nervous because it was the first time I had been to the offices of my Senators. It was very exciting and I learned an important lesson; that I do have a voice in these important issues and that my Members of Congress are listening! I have written letters to the Senators before and received a response, but I wasn’t sure that it was doing any good. I didn’t realize that my letters were actually making it to DC, I thought they just made it to a recycle bin somewhere. I realize now that I can make a difference if I am willing to make my voice heard. When I hear people complain about different issues I simply ask them, “Why don’t you do something about it?” Some don’t understand they can do something to help the situation; I was one of those people until yesterday.
In a world of everything online, I think that taking the time to hand deliver these letters had a larger impact than just sending them in the mail. Everyone these days is busy, I am a college student getting ready for finals but it only took me a few minutes to volunteer and be an active advocate for ONE and the world’s poorest people.
From now on if I don’t agree with something, I will make sure my congressional representatives know about it. If I do agree I will make sure to thank them. And next time, I am bringing my friends with me!
Several ONE volunteers from Webster University recently came to DC during their fall break to meet with their Senator’s office and discuss issues relating to extreme poverty. Nick Stevens writes:
Fall break. A time for catching up on your soaps and sleep, right? Not for me and three other Webster University students. We decided to trek halfway across the country to lobby for ONE in DC.
On Tuesday, October 21 ONE Webster members Sandra Lemenaite, Dirk Bokeloh, Michelle Overington and I met with Joshua Kremer at Senator Bond’s office next to the nation’s capitol.
We told Joshua about the importance of development aid as part of a national security strategy and thanked Senator Bond for voting in favor of PEPFAR. In May, I delivered more than 700 letters to Senator Bond’s St. Louis office asking him to support the PEPFAR Reauthorization. This legislation has helped to put more than two million African people on life-saving anti-retroviral drugs.
The meeting was the first time I had lobbied in DC. Our meetings in St. Louis were effective, but it was great to meet someone in Bond’s foreign policy department. I look forward to building the relationship from here and hope that ONE’s presence will inspire Senator Bond to co-sponsor poverty ending legislation in the future.
Move over Washington University! You may have had vice presidential candidates Sarah Palin and Joe Biden in St. Louis for the debate, but ONE Webster had the ONE Campaign Tour Bus! Sporting a giant ONE logo and blasting great music, the ONE Campaign tour bus attracted students as we tabled throughout the day to promote our vice presidential debate watch party that evening.
Not only did we have the bus, but former Missouri Governor Bob Holden put on a pre-debate analysis with a panel of experts from universities across St. Louis. We packed Webster’s Sunnen Lounge with 170 people. After the chairs ran out, people piled in around the sides and back.
I figured the current economic crisis would dominate the debate, but I wanted [ONE to be there to] make sure everyone remembered those who have been living in an economic crisis their entire lives.
Thank you to all of the ONE Webster volunteers and our co-sponsors: Holden Public Policy Forum, Webster Rock the Vote, College Republicans and College Democrats.
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Yesterday I stopped by Senator Bond and Senator McCaskill’s offices in St. Louis to drop of a bunch of hand written letters from local ONE members thanking the Senators for their leadership on past legislation and asking for support of $125 Million for the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunizations GAVI for fiscal year 2011.
