ONE Regional Field Director Joe Mason‘s question on faith, advocacy and development got answered during a recent White House Q&A. Here’s his report:
Recently, the White House hosted an online Q&A session on innovation for global development. Since the subject is a passion of mine, I was immediately prompted to submit a question to USAID Administrator Dr. Raj Shah.
Surrounded by red AIDS ribbons projected on the nearby university center, old municipal building and historic Statler Hilton, local businesses, community groups and residents gathered in downtown Dallas’ Main Street Gardens on Thursday evening, December 1, to observe World AIDS Day 2011 and to commemorate 30 years of fighting against the spread of HIV/AIDS. In support of the United Nations’ “getting to zero” campaign, event organizers brought that fight to the local level with the message, “Whether or not you are infected, we are all affected by HIV/AIDS.”
Anita Perry, presidential candidate and Texas Governor Rick Perry’s wife, was in West Des Moines, Iowa Tuesday to open her husband’s new Iowa campaign office.
As a ONE Vote 2012 ambassador and volunteer, I talked to Mrs. Perry about our work. She was thrilled…I mean, she just lit up when I told her that I am one of 15,000 other Iowans who are dedicated to the fight against extreme poverty and preventable disease.
“Y’all are all over the place,” she exclaimed, before asking whether I had a white band like the one she got in New Hampshire. “Now I have one from Iowa and from New Hampshire!” she said.
Finally, she also thanked me for the great work that ONE accomplishes, and told me to keep her informed.
Keep Austin Weird might be the town’s unofficial motto, but I found Austin to be weird in a wonderful way. ONE rolled into town to participate in the 10th Anniversary of Austin City Limits. Even though it was the first time that ONE had a presence at the music festival, it felt like we’ve participated all ten years.
Part of our outreach program this past week included meeting with Texas’ senators and congressmen. Last week, a few of us had the honor of meeting with Rep. Lloyd Doggett’s field director, Lee Ann Calaway. It was a great opportunity to introduce ourselves to the staff of a highly respected legislator who has been a strong supporter of providing humanitarian aid to developing nations. Rep. Doggett serves on the US House Budget Committee and the House Ways and Means Committee, so his support means a lot to the millions of people that ONE advocates for around the world.
As the liaison between my Rotary Club of Austin Northeast and ONE, I had the pleasure of meeting with several like-minded people this week in order to further our agenda to inform and activate our community against world hunger.
Allen Beuershausen, an active community leader, ONE member Paulina Sosa and I visited Rep. Lloyd Doggett’s office to speak with his field director, Lee Ann Calaway. And, as Allen said, “It was great to get Congressman Doggett’s encouragement and advice on advancing the ONE Campaign’s efforts he so strongly supports.”
ONE Austin just finished giving our first presentation to the Rotary Club of Austin Northeast about ONE’s official collaboration with Rotary International. We informed them about ONE’s general history and goals, and applauded Rotary International for their hard work and efforts toward the eradication of polio around the world. We emphasized that ONE’s success in awareness and advocacy, in conjunction with Rotary’s success in fund raising and volunteerism — could effectively impact the biggest issues affecting global poverty in developing countries.
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.
![20111201-ONE_Campaign-[World_AIDS_Day_Dallas]-17](http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7164/6521985425_a02ef2603d.jpg)
