ONE Vote 2010
Oct 25th, 2010 2:02 PM UTC
By Field
ONE is hitting the campaign trail to find out where candidates stand on extreme poverty. Stay tuned for more updates like these from our field team and organizers on the road.
On Friday morning, ONE member Tom Leary woke up super early and made it over to a breakfast in Portsmouth, New Hampshire to speak with former New Hampshire U.S. Senator John E. Sununu at an event for his brother, Chris Sununu, who is running for local office here in New Hampshire.
Tom thanked Sen. Sununu for the work he did on behalf of the world’s poorest people for over a decade, in the U.S. House and Senate. As many ONE members know, Sen. Sununu joined ONE Vote 2010′s National Advisory Committee to help ensure continued American leadership in the developing world.
Sen. Sununu told Tom that he was aware of the ground work of ONE members in NH to make sure that our next US Senator goes to Washington with the poorest people in mind. Tom gave him a ONE band which he immediately put on his left wrist.
Later in the day, I tried to catch up with Senator Sununu at the Soda Shoppe in Laconia where he was making a public appearance, but he left before we were able to speak – but he definitely saw my ONE shirt and knows that we are well organized in New Hampshire. I look forward to the next time I can speak with him about our efforts with ONE, and thank him for the work he started on issues like debt relief with then Rep. John Kasich and Bobby Shriver back in 1999.
Be sure to connect with other ONE Vote 2010 New Hampshire members on Facebook and Twitter.
-Matthew Flanders, ONE Vote 2010 state organizer, New Hampshire
Oct 22nd, 2010 12:18 PM UTC
By Field
Oct 21st, 2010 6:52 PM UTC
By Field
ONE is hitting the campaign trail to find out where candidates stand on extreme poverty. Stay tuned for more updates like these from our field team and organizers on the road.
Today, Senator Richard Lugar and the Sagamore Institute unveiled the Indiana-Africa Connections Project at the historic Levey Mansion in Indianapolis. The project is a database that contains almost 300 Hoosier organizations, mostly charities, who work with organizations in sub-Saharan Africa to provide assistance by way of food, immunizations, transportation, education, etc. The Sagamore Institute worked with local graduate students on the project, which will soon include our local ONE initiative.
ONE members were in attendance today, and I made a point to personally thank Senator Lugar for his work on PEPFAR, which has provided life-saving antiretroviral treatment for more than 2.4 million people. I also thanked him for his recent work on the Cardin-Lugar Transparency Amendment which helps fight corruption in resource-rich, but highly impoverished countries in Africa.
Senator Lugar has been a champion for ONE’s issues throughout the years, and we’re proud of his efforts with ONE to fight extreme poverty and help save millions of lives in the poorest places on earth. His speech is available online and highlights the Global Food Security Act, GAVI, AGOA and the MCC.
Be sure to connect with other ONE Vote 2010 Indiana members on Facebook and Twitter.
-Maddison Klontz, ONE Vote 2010 state organizer, Indiana
Oct 21st, 2010 5:52 PM UTC
By Field
ONE is hitting the campaign trail to find out where candidates stand on extreme poverty. Stay tuned for more updates like these from our field team and organizers on the road.
Wednesday evening, U.S. Senate candidate Dan Coats attended a gathering in Terre Haute, Indiana. I made it out with some ONE members too, including some local Indiana State University students, to show support for fighting global poverty and preventable diseases in Africa.
Coats had spent the majority of the day in Terre Haute, taking time to speak to local Indiana State University Students on campus. But this event was at the local Shriners Temple with more than 400 attendees, including many local candidates and staff. But when we got there, we noticed a surprise guest – South Dakota Senator John Thune!
(more…)
After being seen all over the Today Show last month, ONE was hot on the campaign trail in New York City last night outside a private event right by Grand Central Terminal!
In the cool New York night, we had the opportunity to connect the dots with Sen. John Thune (R-ND), who immediately recognized us after ONE members were able to talk with him in Colorado late last week.
We also got to speak with Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK), and thank him for his vote for PEPFAR back in 2008.
And right after the event ended, I ran into senate candidate Kelly Ayotte from New Hampshire. I was to able to talk with her about ONE and thank her for always making time for the world’s poorest people as she campaigns in the Granite State. She was very complimentary of ONE, and took time to snap an awesome picture while holding a ONE shirt!
It was a great night on the trail, and another great night for ONE in New York as we urge our elected leaders to do all they can to help fight extreme poverty and global disease in the poorest places on earth.
Oct 19th, 2010 2:21 PM UTC
By Field
ONE is hitting the campaign trail to find out where candidates stand on extreme poverty. Stay tuned for more updates like this one from our field team and organizers on the road.
Last night, a couple of ONE members and I attended a meet and greet with Senate candidate Rob Portman in Solon, Ohio to talk with him about efforts to fight global disease, lift millions of Africans out of extreme poverty, and save lives in the developing world.
At the end of his speech, Mr. Portman took a few questions, and someone asked about international trade. After Mr. Portman talked to the audience, he went up to the guy that asked the question about trade and asked him if he was a ONE member, noting that one of our issues was to help encourage trade in developing countries. He went on to say that we have seen a five percent growth in GDP in many developing nations in Africa due to efforts to expand and reform trade.
I thanked Mr. Portman for his ideas and efforts around trade, and for his leadership on PEPFAR as the former Budget Director in the Bush Administration. I urged him to continue that same leadership if he is elected to the US Senate.
Only 15 days until the election! Be sure to join us on Facebook and Twitter for frequent updates.
-Beth Kaltenbach, ONE Vote 2010 Organizer, Ohio
ONE is hitting the campaign trail to find out where candidates stand on extreme poverty. Stay tuned for more updates like these from our field team and organizers on the road.
While on the ONE Vote campaign trail, I’ve learned that there is nothing more important than positioning yourself strategically on the rope line so you can catch a candidate as they come offstage. Unfortunately, it’s not always that simple because being one of the few individuals that actually shakes the candidate’s hand in a room full of thousands of people is statistically speaking, well, difficult. I encountered one such scenario last night at a rally for Senator Bennet featuring former President Bill Clinton.
There were 12 ONE members at the rally, so it was easy for us to split up and cover multiple parts of the rope line. Jeb Barrett and his sister were the first ONE members to grab Senator Bennet and President Clinton as they came off stage. Jeb gave both of them ONE bands before they continued down the line shaking hands. In the middle, ONE volunteer CDL Valerie Bobalek thanked President Clinton for his recovery work in Haiti following the earthquake. “It just breaks your heart, doesn’t it?” he said.
Finally, as Senator Bennet began to head backstage, ONE members Ismay and Kyrzia Parker grabbed him for one last picture. They also banded his wife Susan Daggett and his daughter. Ismay asked the Senator to continue to support ONE.org and the fight against poverty. Senator Bennet complimented ONE and our efforts as he made his way off stage.
President Clinton, who had pointed directly at Kyrzia’s ONE sign and gave two thumbs up as he went onstage, gladly posed for a picture with her on his way backstage. In his speech, President Clinton talked about the importance of cheap AIDS drugs for developing nations and his experiences in places where people live on less than $2 each day.
I was proud to watch ONE volunteers as their passion drove them through a crowd of thousands of people to the front of the rope lines in an effort to advocate for the world’s poorest people. They succeeded not once, but three times.
Be sure to connect with other ONE Vote 2010 Colorado members on Facebook and Twitter.
-Nick Stevens, ONE Vote 2010 State Organizer, Colorado
