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.
On Saturday, more than 30 ONE members came to the University of North Texas Health Science Center (UNTHSC) in Fort Worth, Texas to discuss and learn more about ONE’s latest initiatives and take action to preserve US investments in effective solutions to help the world’s poorest.
On Monday, I was honored to join an incredible panel in Fort Worth, Texas at the Refugee Services of Texas (RST) Advocacy Forum for World Refugee Day. Together, we raised awareness around refugees and the importance of consistent advocacy within our own communities. Kim Gudimetla, who works with the agency, organized this extraordinary event at the First United Methodist Church, which was attended by many distinguished guests.
A couple weeks ago, ONE threw its first celebratory event in Austin, Texas. The event drew an excited crowd, with more than 60 excited Austinites raising awareness at city hall by taking action to fight local and global poverty. The event, dubbed “Step Up as ONE,” was comprised of three tiers: local action, interactive educational tool and global action.
South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham traveled to Texas last week to speak to a group of 500+ leaders from the San Antonio Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. I live in nearby Austin so I decided to attend in hopes that I would be able to speak with the senator about ONE’s work to fight extreme poverty and global disease in the poorest nations in the world.
During his speech, he touched on many key issues affecting Americans across the country, including the proposed cuts to the FY2011 budget. As he was wrapping up, he made a point to tell the crowd that despite these tough economic times we must continue to fund our foreign operations budget. As you can imagine, I almost jumped out of my seat with applause. He then went on to say that we must help Africa, “not only with our aid but with our hearts.”
Fast forward to 52:28!
As the event came to a close, I was able to shake the senator’s hand and give him a big thank you from ONE. Senator Graham not only understands the impact of life saving programs like PEPFAR and GAVI on the world’s poorest, but he also realizes that our own national security and economic interests are directly tied to this funding. We need more of our senators to follow his example and start to speak out in support of the less than 1 percent of the budget that is helping us beat back poverty.
-Paulina Sosa, Congressional District leader, Texas
“I wore it yesterday when I was running,” said Senator Scott Brown while visiting a North Texas bookstore. Long-time ONE member Latha Nehru took a few moments out of her day to stop by and say hello the senator during his visit to Dallas. In a brief conversation, Latha asked Senator Brown to rally his fellow senators to restore funding for the international affairs budget. Latha emphasized the incredible return our US investments have made in fight against HIV/AIDS. He replied that he will do what he could. It means a lot to us when members of Congress take the time to listen and strongly consider and support our issues.
Right now, you can take the opportunity to be heard by your congressperson. Sign the petition and make a quick call to contact your ONE regional director. Thank you Senator Brown and Latha for discussing the issues around extreme poverty, and successful investments that have save millions of lives and stabilize communities each day.
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