ONE Members

Last week I made a trip to Fargo North Dakota to meet with local members and do some outreach for ONE and I met some really awesome people! I met with Kayla Pulvermacher of the North Dakota Farmers Union to introduce the ONE campaign and ask for support of the union and President Robert Carlson.

I had lunch with Professor Kevin Brooks of North Dakota State University and Joseph Makeer, a graduate of NDSU and a former lost boy of southern Sudan. He is the author of a book which inspired “Soul, American Heart”, a documentary and now organization that helps orphans in his homeland. We talked about the need for people to hear stories like his and know they can do something by being an advocate for fully funded smart aid to go to the world’s poorest people. His stories were inspiring and motivating, he truly is living proof just like the campaign!

I also had the privilege of meeting with Richard Hanson, the President of ND State University. I explained how students on his campus are working with the ONE Campus Challenge to raise awareness and advocating for change. He is a fairly new president and was enthusiastic to learn about the happenings of passionate students at NDSU.

In addition to many others I had some great meetings with local faith leaders who are interested in bringing ONE Sabbath into their congregations. I even got to attend a meeting for the Hunger and Justice Committee of the ELCA Eastern ND Synod, who is planning some great things in the near future.

Seems like everywhere I went in Fargo I made friends! People in North Dakota have big hearts, sharp minds and the friendliest personalities I have ever met! I hope to see many of these passionate people again at the ONE Fargo Workshop on March 27th!

Can’t wait to get back up north in a couple weeks!

Pennsylvania ONE Members Matt Schaeffer and Nicole Miller share their experiences with ONE and why they feel the desire to raise awareness in their local community!

From Matt:

One of my personal favorite highlights in helping raise awareness for ONE came during ONE Vote ‘08. I had the opportunity to address Senator McCain at a town hall event. It was quite a thrill to speak in front of several hundred people in the audience about the importance of ONE!

The most important part of being active with ONE throughout my college career was learning how to convince people to raise awareness about global poverty and disease. Organizing ONE events at Lebanon Valley College taught me many things about conveying an important message in a compelling way. I think we were very successful with the number of people who were impacted at the events and became ONE members. ONE also teaches younger members like myself to be aware of important political issues and the international implications of our lifestyle at home.

I’ve had the opportunity to meet Congressman Tim Holden D-PA and some of the staff from both Senator Casey and Specter. Meeting with your elected officials is very important and gives ONE Members the ability to convey a sense of urgency concerning the dire need of the world’s poorest inhabitants. Leaving those meetings filled me with a sense of pride and responsibility that is hard to come by at a young age. I truly believe that when people become educated and made aware of what is happening every day in the developing world they say “stop it right there…how can we help?” I now live in the Philadelphia area and cannot wait to promote advocacy for ONE in my new surroundings!

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From Nicole:

With ONE I’ve been able to have direct contact with my Senator’s staffs to advocate for an end to global poverty and to thank them for their support so far. In November 2009 I had the opportunity to put a ONE wristband on Senator Arlen Specter during a town hall meeting. The Senator wore the ONE band and we talked about the importance of his co-sponsorship for the Water for the World Act.

In January, I was lucky enough to attend the ONE Campus Challenge’s Power 100 Summit and join fantastic ONE members from all over the country for meetings on Capitol Hill. Our meetings with both Senator Casey and Senator Specter’s offices showed me just how important each of our ONE voices can be. I am very excited about organizing a chapter of ONE Members that will advocate on behalf of the world’s poorest people. In fact, our chapter’s advocacy has already begun by making our voices heard to our respective members of Congress in support of the President’s request for the International Affairs Budget!

This past Saturday, ONE was back on the trail in New Hampshire with Sen. McCain, as he campaigned for Kellly Ayotte for Senate. Just like we did in the now historic 2008 NH Primary, ONE came out to endorse international life saving policy – not a party or even a politician.

I made it over the to the town hall with some ONE members, and saw a lot of familiar faces, some, like State Rep. Shaun Doherty, were still wearing their ONE bands!

After the town hall meeting, I spoke with Kelly Ayotte about ONE, and our efforts to save lives of people who struggle to over come extreme poverty on less than a dollar a day. I even offered her a ONE band, which she immediately put on.

I managed to catch Sen. McCain too and spoke with him about Cindy McCain’s recent event with Women ONE2ONE on the hill. Sen. McCain instantly recognized ONE, and I was able to briefly mention to him about how Bill Gates talks about the untapped purchasing power of the developing world and new efforts to save millions of lives through immunization programs like GAVI.

I also told him how the other Gates, Sec. Gates has made a desperate plea for more funds for international development in order to build a more stabile and safer world – something that 50 US Generals echoed the other day.

No matter where you live, your voice can help encourage our elected leaders to take urgent action to fight AIDS, malaria, and hunger around the world.

Exciting news! To keep up with the hard work and dedicated service of ONE members across the country, our field team has recently expanded to cover every state in the country.

As we continue to expand, we’ll be holding official ONE member workshops beginning with Atlanta next Thursday, March 18 at 7:00p.m. at the Georgia Institute of Technology.

The workshop is free but space is limited, so please RSVP now

The workshop will feature advocacy training activities, experts from ONE and other poverty-fighting groups, and lots of opportunities to meet other ONE members and learn how to be an even more effective advocate for the world’s most vulnerable people. We’ll also have ONE gear for everyone attending.

We’d love for you to join us—just RSVP here!

Your senators need to hear from you. And chances are, they’re on Twitter. As you know, we’ve been aggressively encouraging members of Congress to support the president’s request for a $58.5 billion International Affairs Budget to fund proven solutions that are saving lives.

Now ONE has developed a new way for your to get in touch with your senators, in real time. Right now, senators and members of Congress are furiously typing away on keyboards and smart phones, trying to out-do one another and be the most effective at using Twitter to communicate directly with their constituents. If all of us send our senators tweets, you can be sure they’ll see and hear about it – some senators even update their accounts personally. They’ll know we’re turning the pressure up to make sure this year’s budget continues to support our anti-poverty priorities, such as eradicating malaria, treating AIDS and tuberculosis, promoting food security, and expanding access to clean water and basic education.

Click here to tweet @ your senator now. It’s fun, easy, and can make a huge difference.

Megan Pederson, a 2007 Roosevelt High School graduate and a junior at Iowa State University, recently attended the ONE Campus Challenge Power 100 which we hosted here in Washington, DC. The Des Moines Register has a nice write-up today about the event.

Excerpt below:

The students went to Washington to hear speakers and to Capitol Hill to meet with members of Congress. They got to talk to Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa and his staff, among others, Pederson said.

Pederson talked to Grassley’s staff about extending the official development assistance category within the federal budget, specifically increasing HIV-AIDS vaccinations and helping additional children in developing nations to attend school.

“After lobby day, I felt so empowered,” she said. “I felt I could come out to Washington and lobby all the time. Some people came up to us and congratulated us. It felt like we were actually being heard.”

The group was in Washington from Jan. 29 to Feb. 1, when President Barack Obama revealed his $3.8 trillion budget for 2011.

Every year, the ONE Campaign hosts the ONE Campus Challenge, a friendly competition among universities across the U.S. to determine which school’s student body has the most effective global poverty-fighting campaign. Students earn points by participating in activities and events, some serious, others lighthearted. Schools earning the most points are eligible for the lobbying trip to Washington.

Over the weekend I attended the 5th annual University Hunger Summit in Auburn, Alabama. The summit featured a series of speakers, including Roger Thurow, former Wall Street Journal reporter and author of Enough: Why the World’s Poorest Starve in an Age of Plenty.

Thurow spoke about our need to mobilize and help build the political will to make it possible to end hunger in our lifetime. He encouraged each of us to reach out to our elected officials and make it known that world hunger is an issue we will no longer tolerate.

This message was repeated throughout the weekend by a number of speakers from government, corporate and non-governmental organizations, including Ann Tutwiler, coordinator of the Global Food Security Initiative, Office of the Secretary, USDA; Kishore Mandhyan, deputy director, Executive Office of the Secretary-General, United Nations; Tony Hall, executive director of the Alliance to End Hunger, former U.S. congressman and former ambassador to the UN Missions in Rome; and Joel Berg, executive director of the New York City Coalition Against Hunger and author of “All You Can Eat: How Hungry is America?”.

With the number of hungry people dramatically increasing worldwide, we must take action now and continue to raise our voices to make sure that the United States lives up to its commitments to help end world hunger in our lifetime.

Earlier today, we informed ONE Members of an opportunity to reach out to our members of Congress in support of the President’s 2011 International Affairs Budget Request. And ONE Members, as they always do, quickly responded. Here’s a sample of responses we’ve gotten from people who’ve called their members of Congress:

my first time calling my senator and i’m glad it was to hopefully help moms and their daughters!! (being a mom myself!)

First time I’ve ever called my senator about anything…the staffer took my name and address, and said they’d be happy to share that with the Senator.

I called Senator Barbara Boxer office and talked to one of her staff member. After I told him that I want my senator to support the President’s Foreign Affairs Budget, he told me that you got it!

The call went well, I explained that I supported the Foreign Affairs Budget request after saying that I was a member of ONE.org. I thanked her for her time, and hung up. I hope that many others do the same.

they were very supportive and said they would pass this along!

These calls are easy to make, and make all the difference in the world. You can find the numbers and talking points you need for the House here, and for the Senate here.

Right now, Congress is considering the President’s budget request for 2011, and the pressure to cut costs is high. But our proven, cost-effective investments in international development, and particularly in mother and child health, must be protected. Congress needs to hear from you that you believe in these investments and want support for the President’s 2011 International Affairs Budget Request.

We have two actions going on: one directed at the House, and one at the Senate. You’ll find instructions, talking points and phone numbers on the pages linked below.

Get your representative’s information and report House calls here.

Get your senators’ info and report Senate calls here.

Some members of Congress are more critical right now than others. Here are the really important committees that need to hear from us (click for a list of members):

• The House Budget Committee
• The Senate Budget Committee
• The House Foreign Affairs Committee
• The Senate Foreign Affairs Committee
• The House Appropriations State and Foreign Operations Subcommittee

These are the committees soon to be making important decisions on the budget, appropriations and authorizations, so we need to get calls in now to have an impact. Phone calls are the most immediate and direct way we can be heard on important, time-sensitive issues including the International Affairs Budget, and your effort means a lot. Our movement grows stronger with every phone call.

Over 200 Fresnans gathered at an event called “Hope For Haiti,” looking for ways to respond to the recent devastation and long-term crisis in that country. ONE members were present to give people information on how they might respond in a tangible way to impact positive change. Pastor Bob Willis from Northpark Community Church presented ONE as an effective and efficient means of fighting against extreme poverty through advocacy.

People were challenged to become the solution to the problem and to look for ways to serve. An exciting result – new members excited about using their voices to hold leaders accountable, raise awareness, and further the mission of making extreme poverty history. We’re excited to advocate with them in Fresno.

- Rebekah Townsend, ONE Fresno, CA