Day 1: Watch ONE and (RED)’s World AIDS Day event. Note: You can now watch the recorded version on our YouTube channel. -Jyl Johnson Pattee, Mom It Forward (@jylmomIF)

Day 2: Make some holiday treats for a neighbor or friend. -Selfish Mom (@selfishmom)

Day 3: Like ONE on Facebook. -Cecily Kellogg, Upper Case Woman (@CecilyK)

Day 4: Give up one luxury item for a day. -Catherine Connors, Her Bad Mother (@herbadmother)

Day 5: Share the Living Proof with your friends. -Emily McKhann, The Motherhood (@theMotherhood)

Day 6: Make an (2015)QUILT panel. -Ellen Seidman, Love That Max (@LoveThatMax)

Day 7: Donate to your local food bank. -Holly Rosen, The Culture Mom (@TheCultureMom)

Day 8: Turn off all your electronics after dinner. -Heidi Leder, Coast to Coast Mom (@C2CMom)

Day 9: Send a message of love and thanks. -Nancy Friedman, From Hip to Housewife (@Hip2Housewife)

Day 10: Thank an NGO for their work. -Mitch Chaitin, GayNYCDad (@GayNYCDad)

Day 11: Educate against extreme poverty. -Rebecca Levey, Beccarama (@beccasara)

Day 12: Send a holiday card to your member of Congress. -Liz Gumbinner, Mom 101 (@Mom101)

And just because the 12 days are up doesn’t mean you can’t keep knocking these simple actions off all year long. Joining the fight against extreme poverty -– both here in our own communities and around the world -– can be as simple as dropping off a can at your local food bank or signing a petition asking your member of Congress to support proven, lifesaving programs that are making a difference in the lives of the world’s poorest. One thing we know, it’s that no action is too small. And in fact, you can start taking action today simply by joining ONE. We’ll be sure to supply you with a steady list of engaging and informative actions you can take every day that will help us to keep the fight against extreme poverty and disease going all year round.

When I was in Kenya this past July on the ONE Moms trip, I had quite a rude awakening when we traveled to rural areas -– a lack of toilets. There were not very many places for us to use the bathroom, unless we wanted to go in the bush or use one of the local latrines.

On the first day in Kisumu, in the western part of Kenya, I was forced to choose between using a latrine or waiting to get to a local hospital. Deciding I couldn’t wait, I walked to the latrine with a few of the other moms. Upon stepping in, I could barely breathe — the latrine smelled entirely of feces and urine and I absolutely could not overcome the smell to use the bathroom. Little did I know that it was one of the more sanitary latrines I would encounter during our time in rural Kenya. In Kibera, the lack of access to proper toilets was noticeable as well with bags of feces lining the streets. It’s no wonder cholera outbreaks are frequent.

It was then I realized something has to be done about sanitation in areas that desperately need it.

The lack of sanitary latrines in countries around the world is a serious problem and lack of sanitation claims the lives of thousands of people every year through connected diseases such as cholera and rotavirus, and parasites. It is vital to get this problem under control in order to save people from sickness and death.

November 19th is World Toilet Day; the goal of which is to spotlight how important it is to get sanitation under control. And while there is a lot to be done, there is good news.

Some universities with the help of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation are coming up with smart ways to manage sanitation issues in developing nations.

What is needed now? More investments in sanitation as well as smart ideas to solve the sanitation problem to ensure access to proper sanitation and improve ways countries discard waste.

I’ve seen it first hand. We are lucky to have indoor plumbing in our country.

Books can do a lot of things; they can inspire us. They can teach us; they can move us to action. Books can transport us to another time and place. The power of a good book is truly magical.

That’s why we’ve created the ONE Moms Book Club. At the beginning of every month, we will highlight books that inspire and educate. And you don’t have to be a mom to enjoy the books!

Our first selection for the book club is “Mothers of Intention: How Women and Social Media are Revolutionizing Politics in America” by Joanne Bamberger, a former lawyer, mom to her tween daughter, ONE supporter and founder of the blog Pundit Mom.

What’s more powerful than a woman? A woman with an audience.

With just one year until the 2012 election, “Mothers of Intention” is a great book to read if you’re looking for inspiration to use your voice in the political process -– or jump in with ONE Vote 2012. Women are powerful political assets, and with the ever-growing population of women online (it’s growing faster than men), the demographic became an even more critical one for politicians to court. The balance of the book is great –- Joanne talks about conservative as well as liberal women -– and the perspective of the contributors makes this a rich and good read.

And Joanne walks the walk! She recently accompanied our trip moms to Capitol Hill to put her lobbying skills to use for the world’s poorest people. She also had the opportunity to meet Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi –- who is in the book!

From the book’s website:

Born out of women’s writings on websites and blogs, “Mothers of Intention: How Women and Social Media are Revolutionizing Politics in America” examines the rise of the motherhood political movement and how women have become a larger, more powerful presence in political activism. Women make up the majority of online users and utilize the Internet more effectively than men overall. As a result, they are rapidly growing in political influence.

Mothers of Intention debunks the commonly held notion that motherhood renders women mute when it comes to public policy and electoral politics. With the authority of a veteran political commentator, Bamberger documents the emergence of a collective female voice in politics. Describing today’s complex political scene with humor, intelligence and humility, and explaining what it means to be a mother within it, Mothers of Intention provides a perspective that often eludes works of social commentary authored by a single individual.

You can pick up your copy of “Mothers of Intention” here.

Elisa Morgan dances with a group of Village Reporters in Lwak, Kenya. Photo credit: Morgana Wingard

A family living in a mud hut at the end of a dusty trail in east Africa has less than you would ever imagine. No television. No toys. No running water. Certainly not a refrigerator filled with fresh food. Mom probably sleeps on a small rickety cot with a pile of brothers and sisters. Dad sleeps on the ground.

They might live near a polluted river where they bathe and collect drinking water. Or maybe mom rises at 4 a.m. to walk eight miles to a spigot where she can wait in line for two hours to fill their bucket. They grow their own food, maybe corn and sweet potatoes. They don’t have an irrigation system so they’re entirely dependent on rain, and when the rains don’t come there’s no food or water.

How does a family like this survive when droughts and famine sweep across their country? Often they receive some assistance from nonprofits, churches and the United States government. A little extra food and water is the difference between life and death for a family faced with drought and famine.

And right now, these people in East Africa are struggling through the worst drought in 60 years, the worst famine in 20 years and ongoing violence.

The ONE Moms and I were able to discuss this issue recently with Dr. Jill Biden, USAID Administrator Raj Shah and National Security Council Senior Director Gayle Smith at a round table at the White House. We talked about our recent trips to Kenya, our ongoing work on global development and voiced our support for US-funded programs that save lives in poverty-stricken Africa.

“It’s so bad. It’s worse than you can ever imagine,” Dr. Jill Biden told us.

Over the summer, Dr. Biden visited East Africa and consoled women and children in a Somalia refugee camp, the largest in the world. Originally built to accommodate 90,000 people, it’s now overflowing with nearly half a million impoverished people. In Somalia, a child is dying every six minutes.

We were invited to the White House because of our trip to Kenya on a trip with ONE. We observed US investments saving lives, and now we are bringing our experience back to Washington to let lawmakers know that these programs are effective and working. We visited a hospital where doctors treat kids with malaria, watched a health care worker test a family for HIV, and brought a new mom fresh food and water.

On this trip, I realized that the United States is good at saving lives, and that’s why I feel strongly that we need to do all that we can to help these people in the Horn of Africa. Here are four more reasons why I think we should support foreign assistance:

Lucky for us, Kristen Howerton, a mom of four and blogger at Rage Against the Minivan, has been blogging on this very topic for the past few weeks. (Side note: if you get a chance, watch this incredible video on her beautiful family and their adoption story.)

Here is an excerpt from Kristen’s post on ideas for an ethical Halloween:

For our family, the response to learning this has been to limit our chocolate purchases to fair-trade chocolate, which is a system that ensures that workers are paid and treated fairly. I believe that our purchases have the biggest impact on corporate change. The chocolate companies are well aware of the human rights abuses in the farms they are buying from, but unfortunately it is the profitability that is driving the ship, not ethics. I really do believe that consumers can change things. I think back ten years ago, when organic food was a fringe hippie thing that you could only by at specialty stores. Now, nearly every mainstream grocery store is producing their own line of organic foods. Consumer demand is what drives the market.

Kristen also makes an excellent point about kids and fair trade chocolate:

I’ve also heard people express concern that children will be disappointed with fair-trade chocolate. In my house, my kids are equal-opportunity chocolate lovers. Quite honestly, kids who stop by my house should be lucky they aren’t getting raisins and pencils, because I’ve so been THAT mom before. But if we’re making our purchasing decisions because we’re scared that a bunch of American kids might be disappointed because they can’t gorge themselves on chocolate made by children in Africa . . . there might be a problem with our priorities.

And, if you want to do more to promote fair-trade chocolate on Halloween night, Kristen suggests reverse trick-or-treating -– offering to give out fair-trade chocolate and a pamphlet as you go from door-to-door.

Kristen has a list of brands and tips on how to be fair trade this Halloween, so be sure to check out her entire blog post here for more information.

Happy Halloween!

Next week, the moms who traveled with ONE to Kenya will be in Washington, D.C., to meet with their elected officials and members of the Obama Administration. We’ll be hosting a Day of Action for ONE Moms and ONE will have a special Facebook and Twitter action for moms specifically. We’ll be asking you -– the ONE Moms -– to use your voice to speak for moms in the developing world. On Tuesday, October 25th, we need you to let your voice be heard, and ask the White House to develop a bold plan to combat HIV/AIDS and bring about the beginning of the end of this terrible disease.

In the meantime, we’ve put together this great video of moms sharing their vision of what ONE mom can do. Watch it in the player above and let us know what you think.

Join us in this Day of Action and be part of the thousands of ONE Moms raising their voices on behalf of the world’s poorest families.

It only takes ONE mom to change the world. Leave a comment below with your version of “It Only Takes ONE Mom to….”

A special thanks to the following social media moms for participating in this video:

Amy Graff, BabyCenter
Stacey Ferguson, Justice Fergie
Jessica Shyba, Mommas Gone City
Ellen K. Schmidt, Baby Meets City
Nicole Feliciano, MomTrends
Issa Mas, Single Mama NYC
Suzanne Chan, Mom Confessionals
Amy Oztan, Selfish Mom
Monica Storch, Macaroni Kid
Jill Seiman, Glamamom
Stephanie Wilchfort, The Mama Bee
Rebecca Levey, Beccarama
Karen Walrond, Chookooloonks
Cooper Munroe, The Motherhood
Emily McKhann, The Motherhood
Melina Jimenez-Flores
Lindsay Maines, Rock and Roll Mama
Elisa Morgan, FullFill
Rachel Fox, Coming Alive
Jyl Patte, Mom It Forward
Shayne Moore, Global Soccer Mom

This summer, while standing in the middle of the Kibera slum of Nairobi with the other ONE Moms, I felt a disconnect. As I was walking on waste and trash, past 10×10 after 10×10, smiling at the small children repeating “How are you?” I wondered how I could ever translate what I was witnessing into words. I needed a concrete action — I wanted to walk in their shoes, if only for a day. Imagine my enthusiasm when Rye Barcott, co-founder of Carolina for Kibera and author of “It Happened On The Way to War: A Marines Path To Peace,” announced the launch of Power of 26, a 26-day challenge to show people what life is like for the estimated 1 billion people that live in urban slums globally.

Only three days after my trip with the ONE moms, I had my family geared up and signed up to begin #powerof26! Every evening, we received a new email informing us of the next day’s challenge. From washing our clothes by hand, cleaning up trash in our community, sleeping in the smallest room of the house, to sharing Kenya chai with our neighbors, we were getting a small glimpse of what life is like for those living on less than $1 a day.

Our family discussions were incredible and have continued long past completing the challenge — and YES we made it the entire 26 days!! We blogged, tweeted, and posted on facebook. My kids are quick to point out that we only did one challenge per day where those in Kibera experience them all everyday. That may have been the most powerful realization.

Sleeping in the smallest room of the house

Chai tea challenge with my son Henry

Carolina for Kibera has now created a new opportunity called Kibera For a Day. Participants can create their own custom challenge to complete in a 24-hour period. By visiting www.powerof26.org you can register and customize three out of 26 challenges to complete in one day. Be creative and reach out to your circles. My high school daughter has started a ONE club at her school that is organizing a 26-day challenge just right for their group. The possibilities are limitless. My family’s eyes were opened and I know yours will be too!

-Rachel Fox, ONE Mom

ONE Moms and A Million Moms – ABC News picked Monday morning to launch the Million Moms Challenge on Good Morning America and the timing could not have been more perfect. For the entire week, the Million Moms were on everyone’s lips! GMA talked about and included great footage from the ONE Moms trip to Kenya this summer as part of the kick-off. If you haven’t seen the GMA segment yet, please watch it and sign up!

The Clinton Global Initiative – In just its seventh year, CGI has received more than 2,100 commitments by corporations, NGOs and world leaders valued at almost $70 billion to create ways to improve people’s lives around the globe. This year, a third of all commitments were dedicated to empowering women and girls.

I had the opportunity to sit down with President Clinton and a small group of bloggers and was especially moved when he talked about the importance of women and girls to the future of the globe. President Clinton said, “I have seen more progress in education and education leading to employment than in anything else … The places where women are viewed as incredibly powerful resources are growing.”

At CGI, Michael Elliott, President and CEO of ONE announced the new campaign, “Drought is Inevitable. Famine is Not,” joining with other world leaders for a multi-year campaign to spark a more urgent global response to the crisis in the Horn of Africa. Be sure to check out ONE’s new PSA!

Blogging for Good - With Women Deliver and Vestergaard Frandsen, ONE hosted the Blogging for Good panel that included Jennifer James and me representing the ONE Moms. Before a packed room, we talked about social media and the impact we call can have by using online tools to educate, inform, inspire and get into action on important global issues like maternal health, HIV/AIDS, clean water and more. See Lauren Balog’s great post for more detail on the panel.

The Social Good Summit – At the Social Good Summit, Lauren Balog and I bumped into Rye Barcott, founder of Carolina for Kibera, whom we had met in Kenya on the ONE Moms trip this summer. After talking with Rye and participating in inspiring panels on the power of technology and ideas to solve big problems, I came away from the Summit even more excited about ONE and its commitment to achieving change through advocacy. To give you a sense of how the Summit’s messages resonated with people, during the week, 45,022 tweets were sent using the #socialgood hashtag and already, videos of the summit have been viewed more than a million times.

When the ONE Moms went to Kenya, we saw how important it is to support girls and women in poverty so that they can get an education, delay marriage, survive childbirth, raise their families, earn a living, stay healthy and safe, and raise up their communities. As we know, if you raise a woman, you raise the world. For an entire week in New York, it was incredibly exciting to see the many many people, corporations and organizations who are working in concert with us on these big, important issues.

Once again, I was incredibly proud to be a ONE Mom.

With all the high-level meetings happening at the UN last week, ground-breaking commitments being made at the Clinton Global Initiative, and inspirational talks by the likes of Desmond Tutu, Jose Andres, Elie Wiesel and Christy Turlington at the Social Good Summit, it’s easy to forget what everyday folks can do to make lasting change in the world.

Last Thursday, in partnership with Women Deliver and Vestergaard Frandsen, ONE hosted the Blogging for Good panel in New York City. The purpose of the panel was to prove that social media can be a powerful tool to educate, inform, inspire and make real change on important issues such as maternal health, HIV/AIDS, clean water and more.

The event was a smashing success, attended by a select group of bloggers, NGO representatives and others from the social media community. The panel had a lively discussion about the role of awareness, blogging for non-expert readers and where advocacy and action converge. Attendees were also treated to a showing of the new mini-documentary by Vestergaard Frandsen, “Carbon for Water,” which tells the story of their product, the LifeStraw, and the monumental effort to — with the help of 4,000 trained health workers — install 900,000 of them in homes across the Western Province of Kenya to help provide clean water to 4.5 million people in just five weeks.

Social Media Manager for Vestergaard Frandsen, Elisabeth Wilhelm, told a story about the project that really opened her eyes to the universal appeal of social media. While traveling through Western Kenya, watching the Life Straw project unfold, Elisabeth realized that Kenyans were following her tweets, and asking when the project would come to their town.

“I didn’t expect to have Kenyans tweeting back at me,” she said.

Women Deliver’s Director of Communication, Janna Oberdorf, also joined the women on the panel, saying that there is no one mechanism that works, and bloggers should leverage their platforms to tell the stories of people in the developing world.

Representing ONE on the panel was two of the ONE Moms who traveled to Kenya in July: Emily McKhann of The Motherhood and Jennifer James of the Moms Bloggers Club. Both women talked about the enormous impact Kenya had on their lives, and how social media helped them share their story with the community of online moms.

“Readers want to know what bloggers care about,” said Emily.

“My readers are ready for the complex issues,” said Jennifer. “Moms care. We need to keep them caring.”

Blogger Rachel Cernansky, blogger for Treehugger.com, spoke on the panel about her experiences seeing the Life Straw first hand on her recent trip to Kenya as one of the winners of the Women Deliver/Vestergaard Frandsen blogger contest.

In the end, one universal theme was clear: women shouldn’t have to die in silence. It’s up to all of us – and moms everywhere -– to tell their stories and work for change in their everyday lives.

Photo credit: Jennifer James

Last week, while I was in New York for UN Week, I started off my activities by attending the launch of the Million Moms Challenge in Times Square. The Million Moms Challenge is a partnership between ABC News and the UN Foundation created to increase the dialogue around maternal and child health and also connect a million moms around the world around the universal topic of motherhood. As a member of the ONE Moms campaign, I was happy to see another effort designed specifically to improve the health of mothers who need the most help and work toward reaching the Millennium Development Goals. I was thrilled to see that Good Morning America launched the Million Moms Challenge with footage of our ONE Moms trip to Kenya.

Photo credit: Jennifer James

ABC News and the UN Foundation launched the Million Moms Challenge on Good Morning America to charge a million moms around the world to connect around the issue of maternal and child health. In fact, for the first 100,000 sign ups, Johnson & Johnson will donate $100,000 to several NGOs helping moms and babies around the world.

Photo credit: Jennifer James

Partners of the global effort include ONE, African Medical and Research Foundation, CARE, Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition, GAVI Alliance, mothers2mothers, Partners in Health, Riders for Health, Save the Children, UN Foundation’s Shot@LifeTM campaign, US Fund for UNICEF, White Ribbon Alliance and WorldVision.

On hand for the Million Moms Challenge launch were several NGOs including Save the Children and World Vision who wore stickers on the palms of their hands that read “Million Moms” and raised their hands in solidarity to help mothers in third world countries. You can get involved and show your support of the Million Moms Challenge at www.millionmomschallenge.com.