Sister Sledge had it right, “Have faith in you and the things you do, you can’t go wrong.”
As a father I could not be more proud of my wife and sons as they have supported ONE for the last six years. Recently we had the chance to relive a moment from ONE Vote ’08, posing in front of Harvey’s Bakery in downtown Dover, New Hampshire.
ONE members from around New Hampshire are as active as the Republican candidates for president in the first-in-the-nation primary state.
ONE members Katie and Trey catch up with Rudy Giuliani on the campaign trail in New Hampshire.
The campaign trail is starting to heat up in the Granite State. While the candidates are vying for votes, ONE members are engaging them and supporting American efforts in the fight against extreme poverty and preventable disease.
Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney has made a number of appearances around the state. In July, he visited with voters in Wolfeboro. He indicated he had read that eradicating malaria would be No. 1 on the list of how we could best utilize our resources to save human lives. He went on to say that America is accountable to economic and political freedom around the world. This combination has, and will continue to, put millions in position to lift themselves out of poverty. Governor Romney also participated in a traditional town hall meeting in Derry. He said that promoting good governance and fair trade has a strong positive impact on the American economy.
On Thursday afternoon, I was enjoying a lobster roll with a friend at Brown’s Lobster Pool in Seabrook, New Hampshire when my phone alerted me that Governor Sarah Palin was at a private residence around the corner attending a clam bake.
We drove over to the residence, where I was able to chat with her briefly before she entered the house party. We talked a little about her last trip to New Hampshire during the 2008 election cycle and then she asked what I was working on these days. I told her all about the ONE Campaign and how we work to save millions of lives in places like Africa. She was familiar with ONE and our causes, she told me that Franklin Graham (a mutual friend with Bono) had told her all about the work we’re doing. They even went on a humanitarian trip to Haiti to look at the devastation from the earthquake last year.
The first-in-the-nation presidential primary is in full swing in New Hampshire. Governor Jon Huntsman just finished up a five-day swing through the Granite State and met ONE members along the way.
I spoke with him at the home of Bobbie and Jarvis Coffin in Hancock. He spoke with ONE members at the 2008 RNC National Convention and we wanted to reintroduce him to ONE. I was able to chat with him about our founder, Bono, and told him that we are most concerned with saving lives in poor countries around the world.
He told me he was good friends with Bono and that we should keep up the great work. Tom Leary spoke with him later in the day at the VFW in Concord. Tom thanked him for remarks he made recently during a commencement speech at the University of South Carolina:
At the end of last week, former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich was in Manchester, New Hampshire to speak to a group of voters while he weighs a run for president in 2012. Longtime ONE volunteers Tom Leary and Mike Castaldo attended the event and were able to share a moment with the former speaker.
On his current book tour, Senator Scott Brown has been bumping into ONE members all around the country, including Dallas, Texas; Newington, New Hampshire with extraordinary ONE member Tom Leary; and on Main Street in Concord, New Hampshire just before the 2010 midterm elections while campaigning with Senator Kelly Ayotte.
Tom urged Senator Brown to protect funding in the Senate for critical programs such as PEPFAR and the Global Fund — which are saving millions of lives in Africa — from the recent cuts. Senator Brown mentioned he has seen a lot of passionate ONE members around the country recently, and last week, he even tweeted about ONE.
Senator Brown signed my book with this message: To the ONE Campaign: Keep Battling! Scott Brown #41
As the US Senate continues to work on funding issues during the CR process, we hope that Senator Brown will remember ONE and the world’s poorest people and ensure proper funding to keep millions in the developing world alive and able to provide for themselves and their family.
And be sure to connect with other New Hampshire ONE members on Facebook and Twitter.
Executive Councilor Dan St. Hilaire and Governor Tim Pawlenty
Governor Tim Pawlenty has been traveling the country to promote his book “Courage to Stand.” Along the way, ONE members have talked with him about US efforts to save lives in the developing world. In Minnesota, Rochelle talked with him about the importance of vaccines, and in Texas, he was given a copy of President Bush’s op-ed from the Washington Post on World AIDS Day.
On Tuesday morning, Executive Councilor Dan St. Hilaire and I traveled to the Bedford Village Inn in Bedford, New Hampshire to speak with Gov. Pawlenty at the Politics and Eggs event. Dan took a picture with Gov. Pawlenty and then I had a moment to talk to him about his recent engagements with ONE members along the campaign trail.
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.
Newt Gingrich with ONE member Tom Leary
