ONE member Heather James reports on a faith event in Washington state.
Saturday morning was incredible. Braving construction chaos and downtown parking, a group of 25 interested (and interesting) everyday citizens of Washington State converged in Tacoma to attend a ONE Faith workshop with Jonathan Young, our regional field director and Adam Phillips, manager of faith advocacy at ONE.
We learned about initiatives for global health and poverty relief, and how these things relate to our faith communities. Our goal for the morning? To come away with at least one practical thing a faith community could do to make a difference in the life of one of the 1.5 billion people living in extreme poverty.
Rana Abuhilal is a 17-year-old ONE member from Dublin, Ohio. She wanted to share an interview she did with a teenager in her community from Sierra Leone, who is doing amazing things for her country halfway across the world.
Tabetha John left her home in Sierra Leone to live in the United States at age six. Ten years later, she continues to stay connected to her home country donating clothes, books and more to Africa.
Born in Freetown, Tabetha grew up around tropical beaches and had a great family. But on a recent trip to Sierra Leone, Tabetha said she witnessed poverty at a whole other level. After Sierra Leone’s civil war, many people lost their homes, and even more than that.
“A lot of people on the streets are missing limbs. I’ve seen homeless people missing their arms, or missing part of their leg,” she says. “A lot of [people] have scars on their faces too.”
Seeing these extreme cases of poverty motivated her. On the other side of the world, Tabetha gives back to Sierra Leone by donating clothes, shoes and books to the homeless.
ONE Illinois member Janet Glavin reports on a recent ONE event with Rotary International in Peoria.
The cold and snowy weather didn’t stop ONE Peoria from giving our first presentation to members of Rotary Club of Peoria Downtown about ONE’s official collaboration with Rotary International. We shared information about ONE’s mission and highlighted the Living Proof successes and detailed several key issues of focus for ONE, including childhood vaccines that Rotarians could help support with their advocacy, and projects to help further eradicate extreme poverty. We also highlighted area ONE volunteer engagement with members of Congress and made a call to action for the club and individual members to join ONE. Twenty members signed up on the spot! A great beginning.
Charlie Harris, our ONE Vote organizer for South Carolina, walks us through a typical day on the presidential campaign trail.
The campaign trail is an exciting place to work, especially when you are out talking about the fight against extreme poverty with voters, campaigns, and candidates. It is an immensely rewarding experience, though on some days, plenty of coffee is needed to make it through!
1. The alarm buzzes too early sometimes, but when you have a chance to get your ONE shirt on TV, sometimes you have to wake up before the chickens.
The eyes of the nation are on South Carolina as voters here go to the polls this Saturday. ONE members in South Carolina have been all across the state talking to candidates, campaigns and voters. To recap some of the past few days, we started last Sunday in Myrtle Beach. ONE had a booth as part of the SCGOP experience exhibition there, and we handed out coffee and talked to voters and SC politicos about our ONE Vote 2012 campaign. The great response and support from everyone we spoke to was inspiring, and showed how these issues really resonate with people from all political backgrounds.
ONE Volunteers Doug and Stuart at the ONE Vote booth in Myrtle Beach
Before leaving for Sundance, our US Branding & Member Engagement Manager Maura Daley took a moment to record this sweet message for ya’ll. She explains what ONE will be doing at Sundance and reminds ONE members to follow on the blog over the weekend. Her excitement is infectious, and we can’t wait to hear all about her adventures!
Follow Maura on Twitter at @Maura_at_ONE and say hello using #sundance.
Several ONE members had the great pleasure of attending Senator Chris Coons’ first “Opportunity: Africa Conference” at the University of Delaware, Wilmington campus yesterday. The afternoon began with remarks from the Senator, including a thank you to ONE for our calls and letters. They do make a difference!
Right now, some of the world's biggest oil companies are fighting to keep some of their deals with foreign governments secret. Let's tell big oil we won't be bullied.
Cuts to poverty-fighting programs won't balance the budget, but they will set back progress on Canada's development priorities and risk jeopardizing existing investments.
2011 marks 30 years since the first cases of AIDS were documented. Take a closer look at the specific, achievable goals we must hit by 2015 to make this year the beginning of the end of AIDS.
