New Jersey
What another exciting night on the U2 tour, this time at the New Meadowlands Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J. ONE volunteers signed up more than 3,000 new ONE members to join our movement to end extreme poverty and preventable disease. Throughout the day we met people from not only all over the country, but all around the world. After this show outside New York City, new ONE members can be found in Manhattan, Queens, Jersey, Connecticut, Pennsylvania and even further afield in Peru, United Kingdom, Germany, and Hong Kong.
Faith Rowland, a ONE volunteer who works at Episcopal Relief and Development had this to share:
“After much excited anticipation, the day of the show finally came around, and I can say that it was totally worth the two-hour bus misadventure just to be there with all the other fans and ONE volunteers. I got to meet loads of really nice and social-justice-minded people while canvassing in the parking lots for new ONE members, and just getting into the show was a thrill, since it was my first U2 concert. I totally cried during ‘Mysterious Ways,’ and loved just watching the guys play. But the best part was getting to actually walk on stage with other volunteers during ‘Walk On,’ which the band dedicated to Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and the thousands of others who have been imprisoned for their political beliefs.”
Jul 6th, 2011 10:32 AM UTC
By Field
As Americans celebrated their independence on July 4, New Jersey ONE members made their way to a number of local Fourth of July parades to spread awareness of the life-saving impact that American investments have made in the lives of people living in extreme poverty.
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Jun 6th, 2011 5:15 PM UTC
By Field
This past week, I had the opportunity to attend the Greater New Jersey United Methodist Church’s annual conference at the Valley Forge Convention Center in King of Prussia, Penn. It was great meeting so many people of faith! From pastors to chaplains to social justice directors, everyone truly understood our call to help people who are living in extreme poverty. It was great to see the folks who had signed up for ONE at last year’s conference still proudly wearing their white wristbands. They were excited to tell me what they had been doing in their congregations to support ONE’s efforts. Those who were new to ONE were glad to sign up and eager to take information back to their congregations.
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Nov 15th, 2010 2:05 PM UTC
By Field
Barb poses with a ONE member at the event
This past weekend, I had the chance to share ONE with folks at the Ridgewood Cares Festival in Ridgewood, New Jersey. The event, created by a multi-faith women’s group, was an opportunity for people to learn how they can get involved in helping others locally and globally. The event was full of opportunities for people to not only learn how they can help, but actually DO SOMETHING to help!
Several of ONE’s partners were also involved, such as Bread For The World, Church World Service, and Habitat For Humanity. People were very interested to learn about ONE’s continuing work in the fight against extreme poverty in the world’s poorest countries.
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On October 4th, former Senator Jeff Angelo had a chance to speak with New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie while he was in Iowa for a dinner with Republican Gubernatorial candidate Terry Branstad.
Sen. Angelo congratulated Governor Christie on his appointment to the bi-partisan Advisory Committee for Trade Policy and Negotiations. And there was just enough time for Sen. Angelo to tell Gov. Christie about ONE, and how the Global Fund is one of the most powerful tools we have in the fight against AIDS, TB, and malaria in Africa.
Sen. Angelo slipped him a ONE band, and Gov. Christie said he looks forward to learning more about ONE.
Barb Barrar with Fortunata and Florida in New York City.
I’ve been working with ONE for a few years now, and over that time period, I’ve met members from all over the country. One of our best members is Barbra “Barb” Barrar. She’s passionate about ONE and is always up for going above and beyond when promoting education, awareness, and advocacy about our issues.
Whether it be hosting an event and talking to people about the work we do or meeting with her congressmen and senators, Barb truly understands the importance of using her voice when so many others don’t have the opportunity to do so.
We made Barb a congressional district leader earlier this year and it has been amazing and inspiring to see the work she has done on behalf of the world’s poorest people. In order to get to know her better, here’s a Q and A I conducted with her earlier this week:
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Sep 10th, 2010 12:18 PM UTC
By Field
Meeting with Sen. Lautenberg’s staff
Meeting with Sen. Menendez’s Staff
At Rep. Andrews’s office
In the past two weeks, ONE NJ Members dropped by the offices of Sen. Frank Lautenberg, (D-N.J.), Rep. Rob Andrews, (D-N.J.), and Sen. Robert Menendez, (D-N.J.).
While we were there, we had the chance to talk to their staff about some of the efforts that ONE is currently focusing on, including PEPFAR, the Global Fund and the Casey-Lugar letter in support of the Global Food Security Act.
Zachary McCue from Sen. Lautenberg’s office said he was very interested in the work that ONE is doing to end extreme poverty and fight preventable, treatable diseases in the world’s poorest countries. Zach expressed to us that it was nice to have constituents come in for good and positive things rather than coming in with complaints.
We thanked Thomas Woltjen and Jill Walsh from Rep. Andrews’ office for his vote in favor of the PEPFAR Reauthorization and requested that he join his colleagues on the budget committee to urge Chairman Spratt to fully preserve the president’s request for International Affairs in his Chairman’s Mark for FY12. We also learned that Jill was in attendance at the ONE launch in Philadelphia in 2004.
We expressed our thanks to Richard Locklear at Sen. Menendez’s office for the senator’s cosponsoring of the Foreign Assistance Revitalization and Accountability Act.
If you’re interested in joining the 55,000 other New Jersey ONE members, please visit our Mid-Atlantic Region Facebook group.
AND follow ONE Regional Field Director Brian Sweeney on Twitter.
- Barbra Barrar, ONE congressional district leader for New Jersey’s 1st District
