North Carolina

In-district meeting with Rep. McIntyre’s office

ONE members Jessie Lynn Hagen, Jennifer Gulberg Smith, Judy Stubblefield, Congressional District Leader Rachel Fox and I met with Kara Spencer, the foreign affairs aide to Congressman Mike McIntyre, in his downtown Wilmington, N.C., office this week to encourage his office to take action against cuts to critical life-saving programs in the 2012 federal budget.

(more…)

Tabling at North Carolina’s Festival for the Eno

This past weekend, ONE North Carolina tabled at the Festival for the Eno in Durham, North Carolina, a three day event by the river filled with music, shows, crafts and nonprofits. In the 100-degree heat, we were fortunate enough to catch the occasional welcome breeze from the river.

(more…)

Creating stronger advocates in North Carolina

Jun 13th, 2011 11:21 AM UTC
By Sara Donaldson

Tweet

Last week, I joined ONE Congressional District Leader Jacqueline Thurman and a group of students and community members in Charlotte, North Carolina for a ONE advocacy workshop.

(more…)

Connecting with Sen. Burr in North Carolina

Last week, members from ONE North Carolina met with Senator Burr in his Winston-Salem office to talk about vaccines and GAVI. Still revved up from our lobby day in Washington, D.C., last week, we were well-practiced and eager to discuss our issues with the senator.

We thanked the senator for his support of PEPFAR, and discussed with him the vital role vaccines and immunizations play in alleviating extreme poverty. The senator was kind enough to discuss our issues with us for more than half an hour, listening attentively and asking a lot of questions.

Although he was already familiar with GAVI, he was pleased to hear how it has saved millions of lives already, and has the potential to save four million more lives by 2015. In closing, we asked him to send a letter to USAID Administrator Rajiv Shah supporting funding of GAVI at the $450 million level over the next three years. He told us that he will discuss the letter with his staff when he returns to Washington and offered to be helpful in pursuing this issue.

We’re grateful for the time and support we’ve received from Senator Burr, as well as his staff in D.C. and North Carolina, and we look forward to engaging them all more in the future.

-Tara Steinmetz, Congressional district leader, North Carolina

Talking vaccines with Sen. Hagan’s Raleigh office

ONE members from across the state of North Carolina are eager for the budget to ensure that smart, cost-effective programs like GAVI are able to provide life-saving vaccines to children in developing nations.

Representing parents, educators, heath professionals, students and ONE members who have spent time in Africa, we told staff members from Senator Kay Hagan’s Raleigh office that supporting vaccines is one of the most cost-effective ways to save lives and prevent disease for a lifetime.

(more…)

Sharing our ‘Cape Fears’ on budget cuts with Rep. McIntyre

Mar 8th, 2011 3:19 PM UTC
By Field

Tweet

Last weekend, I attended the Face-to-Face Meet Your Legislators event sponsored by the League of Women Voters of the Lower Cape Fear. After waiting a little while, I was able to meet face-to-face with Rep. Mike McIntyre (NC-7) from my congressional district in North Carolina. During this engagement I informed Mr. McIntyre on the advocacy work I was doing in his district on behalf on ONE.

Rep. McIntyre is aware of the importance of the International Affairs Budget and would love to see the general population understand that this is less than 1 percent of the total budget. He is aware that cuts to life-saving programs such as PEPFAR and the Global Fund go against the American interest of saving lives and that these same programs are bringing stability to places of strategic interest.

During our conversation he thanked me for educating the constituents in our district through my ONE advocacy efforts. As we wrapped up our conversation he accepted my ONE bracelet, left me with his DC contact to follow up with, and posed for a picture. I must add that the one hour wait was an excellent opportunity to network. Once individuals learn the issues they are ready to join the conversation.

-Rachel Fox, ONE Congressional District leader, North Carolina

The Full Belly Project and ONE featured in Wilmington paper

This weekend, ONE Congressional District leader Rachel Fox contributed a piece to Wilmington, North Carolina’s local newspaper, the Star News Online. Here’s an excerpt of her piece:

This past Saturday, Wilmington residents spent their morning putting together water pump assembly kits with local non-profit, The Full Belly Project. The kits will be sent to Haiti where they will be used to provide clean water. The Full Belly Project works to relieve hunger and create economic opportunities in developing countries through design and distribution of labor-saving, locally replicable agricultural devices.

The volunteers -– moms , students, and educators –- are part of Wilmington’s chapter of the ONE Campaign, a grassroots and advocacy organization backed by more than 2 million people around the globe, and more than 32,000 members in North Carolina. ONE and The Full Belly Project both advocate for sustainable pathways out of poverty for those living on less than a dollar a day.

Kelly Wheat-Rivers, Wilmington ONE member described the morning as “an incredible opportunity to work together on a concrete and worthwhile project. I felt part of a larger movement.”

For more information on The Full Belly Project, go to www.thefullbellyproject.org.

-Rachel Fox, ONE Congressional District leader, North Carolina