Pennsylvania

Rally proves that Philly truly is the City of Brotherly Love

Aug 25th, 2010 4:35 PM UTC
By Brian Sweeney

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ONE is hitting the campaign trail to find out where candidates stand on extreme poverty. Stay tuned for more updates like these from our field team and organizers on the road.

Philadelphia isn’t just the City of Brotherly Love — it also happens to be a ONE City. I definitely felt that love and sense of ONE-ness at the rally for Senate candidate Rep. Joe Sestak, who was campaigning for Senate with former Sen. Chuck Hagel.

I went the rally to make sure that our Pennsylvania Senate candidates remember the world’s poorest people and to encourage continued leadership in the fight against poverty and preventable disease.

Right after the rally, I was able to speak briefly with Sestak to thank him for his past support for many of ONE’s legislative priorities, like helping to reauthorize the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) and cosponsoring the Water for the World Act.

While walking with him, I emphasized the importance of these life-saving programs in the developing world, and encouraged him to continue his leadership for the world’s poorest people if elected to the Senate. Sestak thanked me, happily accepted a ONE band and posed for a quick picture for the ONE blog.

I also had a chance to talk with longtime friend and ONE supporter, Sen. Hagel. Many ONE members will recall the senator’s deep support and his commitment to the world’s poorest people on a host of important international development issues.

I thanked Sen. Hagel for his efforts with ONE while in office and for his recent effort with ONE in presenting our co-founder Bono the Atlantic Council’s first-ever Distinguished Humanitarian Leadership award this past spring.

ONE members have been doing quite a bit in Pennsylvania. Earlier this week, Pastor Dan Donmoyer and I caught up with Republican Senate candidate Pat Toomey, and at the Sestak campaign rally a few weeks ago, we spoke with former President Clinton about our Haiti petition. We also thanked Sen. Bob Casey, (D-Pa.), for the Global Food Security Act and told him about ONE’s current efforts to support the Casey-Lugar sign-on letter.

If you’re in Pennsylvania and interested in talking to the candidates about ONE’s issues, hit me up on Twitter and let me know if you want to tag along on the next event!

Pat Toomey and Pastor Dan in Pennsylvania

Aug 24th, 2010 9:19 PM UTC
By Brian Sweeney

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ONE is hitting the campaign trail to find out where candidates stand on extreme poverty. Stay tuned for more updates like these from our field team and organizers on the road.

Yesterday, longtime ONE member Pastor Dan Donmoyer and I caught up with Pennsylvania Senate candidate Pat Toomey, (R-Pa.), on his bus tour in Fredericksburg, Pa.

We spoke briefly to him about ONE and our fight against extreme poverty and preventable disease in Africa. Pat was interested in what we had to say about the importance of continued American leadership that has now saved more than 5 million lives in the poorest places on earth. He asked us for more information about ONE, and even took a few ONE bands from us before posing for a quick photo!

In the past few years, our nation has responded to widespread disease and extreme poverty in Africa with historic and heroic life-saving programs that are now showing real results in terms of lives saved on the ground. These programs are also helping to encourage accountability and good governance.

And right now, more than ever, it is time to make sure that both candidates for Senate in Pennsylvania know that saving lives in Africa is a moral priority and helps foster a safer and more secure world. Your voice can help make this possible.

Live in Pennsylvania? Love ONE? Give Brian mad props on his Twitter account.

ONE swings by Arlen Specter’s office — and leaves a memo

Aug 11th, 2010 8:56 PM UTC
By Brian Sweeney

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Today, I joined Pennsylvania ONE members Dan Donmoyer and Sarah King in a meeting with Sen. Arlen Specter’s (D-Pa.) staff in Harrisburg.

Sen. Specter has been a tremendous champion for the Global Fund in their fight against HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria, as well as several other legislative priorities for ONE. We made sure to articulate our appreciation and gratitude.

Our group told Sen. Spector’s staff that we wanted the senator to support a strong three-year, $6 billion U.S pledge to the Global Fund at the replenishment conference in October.

We also talked about the Global Food Security Act. Sens. Lugar and Casey are circulating a letter to Senate leadership, asking them to bring the bill to the floor prior to adjourning at the end of the year. The legislation will overhaul U.S. assistance efforts to better address the long-term structural deficiencies that prevent developing nations from attaining self-sufficiency on food production.

We asked the senator’s staff to please urge him to sign the letter. The meeting concluded with everyone in attendance expressing that, once again, Pennsylvania ONE members were looking to Sen. Specter’s leadership and commitment to saving lives in the poorest parts of the world! Please call your senators now!

Live in Pennsylvania, love ONE? Stay connected at ONE’s Mid-Atlantic Region Facebook Group and Twitter.

Casey and Clinton at Pennsylvania Senate candidate rally

Aug 11th, 2010 11:39 AM UTC
By Brian Sweeney

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ONE is hitting the campaign trail to find out where candidates stand on extreme poverty. Stay tuned for more updates like these from our field team and organizers on the road.

Today, I joined ONE members at a rally for Pennsylvania Senate candidate Rep. Joe Sestak (D-Pa.). Rep. Sestak was stuck in Washington, D.C., however, former President Bill Clinton and Sen. Robert Casey (D-Pa.) were there to fill in.

Pennsylvania ONE member Amanda Modispaw was able to speak with Clinton and thanked him for saving lives in Africa and Haiti.

She also made sure to mention that more than 40,000 ONE members signed a petition urging world leaders to make good on their pledges to rebuild Haiti. Clinton thanked Amanda and ONE for the support and said that he definitely noticed our ONE T-shirts in the crowd when he was speaking.

I was also able to speak with Sen. Casey about his hard work on global food security issues and informed him that all ONE members were making calls to their senators and urging them to sign on to the Lugar-Casey letter, which asks the Senate to pass the Global Food Security Act.

I thanked Sen. Casey, who was happy to put on a ONE band, but he told me that it was our ONE members who should be thanked for their advocacy efforts. This is only the beginning of ONE Vote 2010 and we’re off to a tremendous start lending our voices for the world’s poorest people.

Live in Pennsylvania? Follow Brian on Twitter or join ONE’s Mid-Atlantic Region Facebook Group.

More than 600 people join ONE in New Jersey and Penn

ONE members had a blast this weekend at the Daughtry shows in Hershey, Penn., and the Tropicana Showroom in Atlantic City, N.J. As fans arrived at both venues, our ONE teams shared information about ONE’s work in the fight against extreme poverty and preventable, treatable diseases in the world’s poorest countries.

We also got Chris Daughtry himself to retweet us on Twitter: “Very awesome!!! RT @barbiedoll869: @CHRIS_Daughtry ONE team got 482 new members tonight!”

Not only were we able to raise awareness for ONE this weekend, but we also added more than 600 new members! Big thanks to Daughtry and their terrific fans for two great nights!

Live in New Jersey or Pennsylvania? Connect with ONE members in your area on our ONE Mid-Atlantic Region Facebook group.

- Barbra Barrar, ONE congressional district leader for New Jersey’s 1st District