ONE Bus Tour

I found our bus at the RNCC.

After sitting in the hot- midday sun in Denver for a week, and then traveling for days down the highway by way of Omaha, the ONE Bus proudly rolled right inside the Minneapolis Convention Center to sit a top some fluffly blue carpet. Good ‘ole bus probably needed a bit of a rest.

Pretty soon after I got to the table, Kentucky Delegate Dan Bayans dropped by to pick up his ONE Delegate materials. Among the items his bag: information on ONE’s service project today and panels tomorrow, as well as 6 ONE shirts which he can hand out to other members of the Kentucky delegation as he signs them up for ONE.

Right after that, Libby showed up with brand new ONE volunteer Pamala Brown. Pamela told me that she’s from Eden Prarie. MN, and has been a ONE member since the 2005 G8, but that this is the first time she’s been able to volunteer at an event. She’s pretty excited to be here and we’re pretty exited to have her.

Around the back of our bus I found the make-shift office for much of our on-the-ground staff. They’re pounding away getting everything in order for the rest of the week’s events. When they asked if I was posting this photo, I told them I could neither confirm nor deny.

-Virginia Simmons

I’m feet down in Minneapolis waiting to gain access to the ONE Bus at the Minneapolis Convention Center.

Just like at the DNCC, ONE will partner with WorldVision to host a service project. If you’re in Minneapolis/St. Paul, it’s going to be at CivicFest (the Minneapolis Convention Center) today from 2-5pm in Ballroom B. Confirmed attendees include Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist and McCain family and friends.

Like last week’s event, volunteers will be able to help assemble kits for AIDS caregivers around the world, but today volunteers will also be able to help with WorldVision’s recovery efforts around the Gulf in the wake of Hurricane Gustav.

If you want to help with Hurricane Gustav recovery as well, you can find more information on World Vison’s website.

I’m heading over to the ONE Bus now. More updates in just a few minutes.

-Virginia Simmons

An amazing email from a DNCC ONE Delegate Lori Macklin to ONE Vote ‘08 National Coordinator Erin Eagan.

Dear Erin, 
  


Thank you so much for the opportunity to participate in this week’s DNC as a ONE delegate – it was a blast!!  My husband and I stopped by the ONE bus and participated in the ONE Service Project at Manual High School, where I got to meet David Lane and see Dana Buck, my old friend from World Vision.  It felt so good to be a part of the caregiver kit project – Josh from Daughtry told me in the assembly line that it meant a lot to him to do something so meaningful.

At our morning delegation breakfast meeting on Wednesday, I spoke about ONE and distributed wrist bands to our entire WA State delegation.  People were very interested, and I encouraged them to join the movement.  There are a couple of photos attached of us wearing ONE gear at the convention, and a friend sent me this link to a photo from MSNBC, where I was hugging my fellow delegate, Moe Spencer, after Barack Obama was proclaimed the nominee by acclamation:

Thanks so much for all that you do, and for being at both the DNC and RNC – ONE’s issues should matter to all of us, and I’m so proud to be a part of the movement to eradicate global poverty and disease.

Greetings to Josh Peck and Jamie Drummond too! 
  


Sincerely Yours, 

Lori Macklin 

Obama National Delegate 

Washington State

Matt Higgginson was in charge of local ONE volunteers for the DNCC all week and did an amazing job if I do say so myself. I thought posting some of the pics from his camera might give you a sense of what he was up to all week.

Local volunteers Brooke and Dana working the ONE Bus.

Darren & Lindsey from Littleton, CO, working the service project.

ONE volunteer Joe Marsh is signing Delegates up as they wait for their credentials.

And one of many volunteers who walked the 16th St. Mall in Denver and signed up new members to ONE.

(UPDATED: I added video.)

Yesterday afternoon, I attended the National Democratic Institute’s global poverty panel at the DNCC. It was moderated by Gayle Smith, who’s a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress.

The speakers were:

Madeleine K. Albright, former U.S. Secretary of State and NDI chairman
Ben Affleck, actor, director, and advocate
Nancy Birdsall, president of the Center for Global Development
John J. Danilovich, CEO of the Millennium Challenge Account
Tom Daschle, former Senate Majority Leader and Co-Chair of ONE Vote ‘08
Hernando de Soto, president of the Institute for Liberty and Democracy
Obiageli “Oby” Ezekwesili, vice president of the Africa Region of the World Bank
Donald Payne, U.S. representative
Tim Wirth, former U.S. senator, and CEO of the United Nations Foundation
James Wolfensohn, former president of the World Bank.

Josh Lozman of our policy staff is going to be sending in a post about the panel a little later.

I also took a small camera with me and shot some simple video, so I’ll post a couple clips here to give you a sense of what it was like to be in the room. The 1st is of Senator Tom Daschle answering a question about his recent trip with ONE through Rwanda.

This second one is of Ben Affleck talking about his new perspective after having visited Africa- and what he thinks that new perspective means for how we should message effectively. After, President of the Center for Global Development Nancy Birdsall talks about the incredible progress we’ve seen.

Tonight at the DNCC the RIAA is hosting an event to celebrate ONE.

Kanye West will be playing and we’re expecting some very famous and influential people to attend.

ONE has been seeing a lot of national press because of the party and we’re hoping the event will help bring the issue of global poverty to the forefront of this convention.

Tons of people came and we finished all the kits in record time. We had 3 hours to assemble 1,500 kits – but it was all done in just one hour.

During that time, former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle came by to help out, as did the band DAUGHTRY. We should have video of all that by tomorrow.

‘Til then, I’ll just have to apologize sheepishly for this very amateur camera-work. It does give you a sense of the atmosphere in the room.

We’re at the service project. It kicked off with short speeches by ONE President and CEO David Lane and an incredible Zambian AIDS activist Princess Zulu.

Right now, volunteers are running off to prepare kits for AIDS caregivers around the world.

The kits include simple items like wash cloths, cotton balls, soap, petroleum jelly. The kinds of things we take for granted everyday in America. And the kinds of things that can literally save lives around the world. Each bag of cotton balls, for example, will be washed and re-used for months.

I’m attaching photos below. They include photos of the supplies, assembly lines and packing up. Note the ones of people writing notes, every kit includes a handwritten note from the volunteer who assembled it – to the caregiver who will receive it.

I’m taking a bunch of video now too, but have to wait until I have silghtly better Internet to upload them.

A lot of people have come by to learn about ONE and sign up for the cause. Here’s a sampling of the foot traffic.

Below, a couple of alternate delegates from New Mexico came by. They said they’d be on the convention floor tomorrow and will be wearing their new ONE shirts.

Here, a set of 3 delegates from Nevada came by to pick up some ONE materials.

A couple more pics of visitors coming by.

And this one is my favorite. ONE staff and volunteers were busy, so our new Alternate-Delegate-from-New Mexico friends introduced these three newbies to ONE.

The delegates, volunteers and brand new ONE members are pouring by our ONE Bus in Denver.

I managed to catch some of it on camera. First I’ll profile 3 of our volunteers: Erika, Monica and Allie.

Erika (below) and I chatted for a bit. She told me that she first heard about ONE 2 years ago from an email – and has been a big supporter ever since. This is the first time she’s been able to volunteer in-person – I’m excited to see more of her around the convention.

Monica is also a local volunteer. Here she is getting ready to head out to the 16th St. Mall in Denver to spread the word about ONE. Yesterday, she walked the “delegate-credentialing” line and signed up new ONE delegates for us. She was even able to get to hand some ONE lit and a ONE band to New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin.

And local volunteer Allie also came by and was kind enough to pose for me by our bus.

-Virginia Simmons