Virginia
Earlier today, ONE’s own Lauren Conn, ONE intern and member Emily Daher, and a group of George Mason University ONE members, talked to and gave a ONE white wristband to President Obama outside an event in Fairfax, Virginia!
Lauren is still out in the field working, but sent us back this report:
We greeted and thanked President Obama on his way into the event – and then got a chance to talk to him on his way out. We asked him to remember the world’s poorest and he said, “absolutely,” looked at all of our ONE shirts, took a ONE band and joked about his collection.
Emily Daher : “Thank you for supporting the world’s poorest!”
President Obama: “Absolutely. Thank you — I have like 15 of these!”
ONE members all across the country (we just caught up with him in Nevada last month) have thanked the president for requesting a robust international affairs budge and asked the administration to continue their efforts to fight extreme poverty and strengthen our national security.
An awesome way to end this Friday. Go ONE!
Shortly after discussing relief and development efforts in Haiti at the ONE Global Poverty Forum at Hampton University, Rep. Bobby Scott (D, VA-3) boarded a plane to see the on-going humanitarian operation for himself! It was announced today that Rep. Scott is leading a congressional delegation to the recovering country. Turns out that the ONE forum could not have been more timely – fellow panelist, Gen. Ron Sconyers, gave the congressman some pointers for his trip based upon Physicans for Peace’s experience on the ground.
ONE thanks our partners at Physicians for Peace and Congressman Bobby Scott for their efforts to help the people of Haiti. As ONE members, we have to continue our advocacy efforts to support long-term development goals for Haiti and for countries throughout the developing world. Click here to take action!
Wednesday night in a community at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay in Virginia’s 3rd district, Congressman Bobby Scott discussed US development efforts in another port city thousands of miles away in Haiti, but close in spirit and thought, as concerned constituents gathered on Hampton University’s campus for a ONE panel discussion on global poverty. The panel also featured Brig. General Ron Sconyers of Physicians for Peace and Keren Dongo, ONE Sr. Manager of Community Engagement. They discussed the immediate need for humanitarian relief in earthquake-ravaged Port-au-Prince and also relief in the broader context of long-term commitments to development in Haiti and the poorest countries in the world.
While applauding Americans’ swift and generous response after the natural disaster in Haiti, Congressman Scott was quick to remind us that “global health and poverty are important every day, not just in times of crisis.” He added, “We must find a way to translate our concern for humanity into sustained policy efforts that will strengthen the global community and lead to a safer and healthier world.” The congressman emphasized that helping the poorest countries in the world lift themselves from extreme poverty is not only a moral imperative, but in our own national security interest.
The panel echoed this sentiment and asked the audience to continue their advocacy to fight poverty and preventable disease throughout the developing world. Hampton University students immediately responded with plans to start an OCC chapter on campus! Watch out, Power 100! More news from HU, including video of the panel discussion, to come!
Next Wednesday, February 17th, Representative Bobby Scott (VA-3) will partake in a panel discussion on extreme poverty and preventable disease, as well as his work in Haiti. He’ll also discuss what our leaders in Washington are doing to end the worst suffering in the world today.
This will be a great opportunity to gain greater insight into what’s going on on the Hill, and how we can all work with our elected officials to end extreme poverty. Details below; RSVP to attend here.
When: Wednesday, February 7th, 6:00 PM
Where: McGrew Towers, Hampton University, 24 Indian Road, Hampton, VA 23668
Yesterday afternoon I had the privilege to visit Capitol Hill and have a meeting with Kate McGregor, the legislative director of my congressman, Eric Cantor. I live in Richmond and absolutely love coming to DC – although the slip-sliding-away snow-and-sleet drive up on Tuesday night was a bit less ideal – and even though this was not my first visit to the Hill, I never cease to have a sense of awe. I was born and raised in The Netherlands, and will be sworn in as a US citizen February 17 – and yesterday it hit me: this will now be my government, these are my representatives, and I have a voice. I head up a small non-profit in Richmond, I have worked in refugee camps and orphanages in Asia, and I have a passion for making poverty history. 2000 kids die of malaria every day – a disease that is preventable. 200,000 dead in Haiti after last month’s earthquake. How can we NOT be involved? There are over 4000 ONE members in Virginia’s Seventh District alone – together we can make a difference.
When Lauren Conn from ONE and I walked into Congressman Cantor’s office and connected with Kate I quickly realized that Kate and I had met before, in a similar advocacy meeting last April. So in effect we continued the conversation we started back then. Our main “ask” this time was for Congressman Cantor to support the proposed increase in the foreign affairs budget for FY2011. It was an excellent conversation, and I was able to share some of the poverty relief initiatives I am involved with in the Seventh District. We look forward to working with Kate and Congressman Cantor in the future, and hopefully host him at a ONE-event in Richmond.
To find out how you can make a difference, go HERE.
I recently caught up with some high school ONE members in northern Virginia who are fighting illiteracy in Africa through the service and awareness- raising group “Action Africa.” Below, Thomas Jefferson High School student Sydney Schrider tells us more about their incredible work.
Action Africa is a service club at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in Alexandria, Virginia. We are trying to increase awareness of African issues and complete service projects at our school.
One of our ongoing projects is a pen pal relationship with a school in Bupoto, Uganda. Last year, as our big spring service project, we did literacy outreach with the Arlington Academy of Hope (AAH), a school in rural Uganda. We collected easy-reader books and recorded them on tapes, and then sent the books and tapes to the students of AAH in Bupoto.
We continue to learn about different issues, such as food security and AIDS awareness, and are working with ONE on many more events.
–Sydney Shrider, Thomas Jefferson High School, Alexandria, VA
St. John Neumann’s Catholic Church in Reston, VA took a stand against poverty this past Sunday – in two different languages!
Hundreds of parishioners read the Stand Up Pledge after the morning Mass in English and then en español after the Spanish Mass in the afternoon. This bilingual action reflects the diversity of people coming together as one in the fight against poverty in this country and around the world. Erin Tunney and Damian Gullo coordinated the events at St. John Neumann’s to stand with millions of people worldwide who are committed to realizing the Millennium Development Goals.
-Lauren Conn
