ONE offices in Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina are humming, as we prepare for the upcoming SONICFLOOd concert!! Known as the “fathers of modern worship music,” the band has agreed to perform at a free concert to raise awareness of global poverty and disease, and to help kick off our new faith-based campaign, ONE Sabbath.
Concerts are at:
The Crossing Church in Las Vegas at 7:00pm on November 7th;
TBD location in New Hampshire at 7:00pm on November 13th:
TBD location in South Carolina at 7:00pm on November 14th :
Lutheran Church of Hope in West Des Moines at 8:30 on November 15th
We’d love to have you and your friends join us!! If you want to help us get ready for this awesome event, give us a call or swing your state’s local office! See you there!!!
Our ONE Ironman, Vance Sutton, has returned to NV from the big race in Hawaii and I wanted to pass along some of his words about the experience.
Vance: Thanks for your heroic effort, and thank you for reminding us that there are thousands of unique ways to raise awareness about global poverty and disease.
-Matt Higginson, Nevada ONE Vote ’08
“On the day of the race, the ocean was quite calm as it had been in previous days. The prayer offered by the local Hawaiians before the start was absolutely hair raising. It was at that point I realized; time waits for no one. I am 15 minutes away from the absolute biggest day of my sporting life–I am competing in the World Championship of triathlon.
I enter the water with 1800 of my fellow competitors. The water is warm, calm, and clear. Looking back at the crowds surrounding the bay was absolutely incredible. Thousands of them sitting on the sea wall that stretches for about ½ mile.
In the afternoon the wind really picks up on the island and blows right into your face as you crawl back home on the bike section. I wanted to quit so many times, but I kept thinking about the people who supported my efforts by donating $1 per mile to the ONE Campaign.
It got dark about 13 miles into the marathon and they hand you a glow stick that fits around your neck. It’s quite cool to see the glowing circles just bobbing up and down in the darkness from the other racers. Everything slows down mentally and you begin to realize that you’re going to finish…eventually…just keep going.
The last two miles were very interesting. Something inside my mind allowed me to run fast, actually quite fast. Once you begin to see people again and the lights of the city now guide your path, new strength kicks in. I finished strong. Running down the finishing chute is something I wish everyone could experience.
My marathon time was 5 hours and something. Total event time 14:26.
It was such a blessing to have the support of family, friends, and the ONE Campaign. It gave me such great satisfaction to use this race, that by it’s nature is very selfish and individualistic, to help raise awareness about an issue that is much larger than any ONE person.”
It was a thrill to have Mike McCurry in town last week. When Mike got off the plane Monday evening we marched him right across the street to our ONE Candidates Forum at the University of Nevada Las Vegas.
The forum was a great success. We invited representatives from every presidential campaign to speak to ONE volunteers and UNLV students about their candidates’ plans to fight poverty and global disease. Participation was great and it was fantastic for our volunteers to hear from each campaign. We signed up 30 new members and UNLV’s ONE club was able to recruit about a dozen new members as well.
Mike was our keynote speaker and discussed his advisory role with ONE and some of the amazing success stories ONE has witnessed since it’s inception. He highlighted how refreshing it is to be involved with a campaign that that unites people from all political parties, quite a change from his former role as White House Press Secretary.
The following day we ran all over town, from a press roundtable at R&R partners with Nevada’s ONE Vote 08 co-chair Billy Vassiliadis, to filming Face to Face with Jon Ralston. Mike finished up the day by speaking with UNLV Law School students and faculty. Over 45 students signed the declaration.
If only we could clone Mike and have him campaigning for ONE in NV every day.
On Monday, October 15, Las Vegas, Henderson, and North Las Vegas became the 123, 124, 125th “ONE Cities.”
While many may think of the Las Vegas Valley as “what happens here stays here” — Monday’s event proved otherwise. Our elected leaders stepped up to the plate and asked the over 2 million citizens of their respective cities to do the same.
Mayor Goodman of Las Vegas explained the reason he has become such an avid supporter, “I tell you that Las Vegas is a microcosm of the world – we welcome tourists and new residents from all over the world. We are doing our part today to add our collective voice to say enough is enough.”
Couldn’t have said it better myself!
-Megan Jones
Pictured above: Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman, Clark County Commission Lawrence Weekly, Henderson Mayor Gibson, Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce CEO Kara Kelley
Barack Obama was in Las Vegas last week to hold a rally and give a foreign policy speech at Cheyenne High School.
Pastor Adam Phillips from Chicago and Lawrence Temfwe from Zambia happened to be in town for a luncheon we held earlier in the day with leaders from the faith community. They were able to meet with Senator Obama prior to his speech and afterwards they were called upon to ask a question:
Vance Sutton is a Las Vegas local who will be participating in the World Championship of Ironman triathlon on October 13 in Hawaii. For those of you who aren’t familiar with the event, it’s a 2.4 mile swim in the ocean, a 112 mile bike ride, and then a full 26.2-mile marathon.
My fingers got tired just typing that.
Vance has stated that he doesn’t want this to be a selfish endeavor, that he would like it to somehow be able to make a positive difference in the world. That is why he decided to dedicate his participation in this international event to the ONE Campaign.
Last Saturday night, Vance hosted a party at Agave restaurant in Las Vegas. He invited friends, family, and church members to eat, drink, visit, learn about the ONE Campaign, and to raise some funds for future ONE actions.
The evening was a great success, with a casual celebratory vibe. Of those attending, many were long-time ONE supporters, and many were brand new recruits, all sympathetic to the issues that the ONE campaign is tackling. In addition to the financial generosity of the those attending the event, we were able to sign up over 40 new members.
At the end of the night, I thanked Vance for all that he had done, organizing the event and dedicating his Ironman journey to ONE. He replied by saying, “It’s not a me thing…It’s a God thing.” Well, God bless you, Vance. Good luck in Hawaii!
I grew up in Africa. For the first 10 years of my life, I had no shoes, no running water nor electricity at home. We used to drink a coke once a year at xmas and I never watched a movie before 15. But what I had was something common to kids everywhere in the world. The hope to grow up to go great places and do great things.
Although our school had no band and very few teachers and little resources, I can tell you that the other kids had a plenty of hope. Collectively we also faced lots of diseases that threatened us each day.
Can you believe that the government created schools but could not support the schools even in cases when the roof was shattered down by a devastating storm.
When I met Robin today, her presentation with vivid pictures of the faces of poverty in Africa stirred me and reminded my difficult days past. Today, I teach and train executives around the world, I earn a fair bit of money. Though life is relatively comfortable for me, I have never forgotten where I came from, nor the many that need a chance to succeed. It can be done!
My own life was revolutionized by American Peace Corps volunteers. If there is anything I can do, by word of mouth, skill, ability or sheer commitment, I will not hesitate to create opportunities for all around the world through ONE.
The world can’t afford to sleep if some of its children still mourn for bread, yearn for clean drinking water or barely dream to earn a few nickles from fairer trade.
I will stand up for ONE.
Gideon F. For-mukwai
Certified Resiliency Facilitator
Volunteer, ONE
Right now, some of the world's biggest oil companies are fighting to keep some of their deals with foreign governments secret. Let's tell big oil we won't be bullied.
Cuts to poverty-fighting programs won't balance the budget, but they will set back progress on Canada's development priorities and risk jeopardizing existing investments.
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.
I grew up in Africa. For the first 10 years of my life, I had no shoes, no running water nor electricity at home. We used to drink a coke once a year at xmas and I never watched a movie before 15. But what I had was something common to kids everywhere in the world. The hope to grow up to go great places and do great things.
