In case you missed ONE and (RED)’s World AIDS Day event on Twitter earlier today, you can watch a recorded video of our event in the player below. President Obama made a bold commitment to the fight against HIV/AIDS, former President George W. Bush and President Jakaya Kikwete joined us from Tanzania, and President Bill Clinton brainstormed real solutions to the AIDS epidemic.
Note that the event starts at 16:20:
In addition, here’s a recap of our World AIDS Day conversation on social media:
When former President Bill Clinton and former Mayor Rudy Giuliani visited the Mountain State yesterday to campaign for their candidates, West Virginia ONE was there! Senator Jay Rockefeller and President Clinton attended a rally in Beckley yesterday for Governor Joe Manchin -– and all three proudly put on their ONE bands! Gov. Manchin immediately recognized ONE and said that he just ran into ONE members this past weekend in Morgantown!
The next senator from West Virginia will go to Washington immediately after the election today, which means he’ll have the opportunity to support funding for smart investments in global health and sustainable agriculture in the 2011 budget. No matter what happens today, the candidate who fills the late Senator Robert Byrd’s seat knows that West Virginians care deeply about this small, but critical funding. To the many, many ONE members across the country who have built relationships with candidates on both sides of the aisle during our ONE Vote 2010 effort: let’s celebrate, but then accelerate our efforts!
In the coming weeks, all ONE members will be called upon to lift their voices to their members of Congress, incumbent and newly-elected, in support of continued bold American leadership in the fight against global poverty into the 112th Congress.
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.
Yesterday, former President Bill Clinton came to Chicago for an event with U.S. senatorial candidate, Alexi Giannoulias and other local candidates. I went out with some ONE members extra early, decked out in our ONE shirts to make sure that they saw ONE and were reminded of our efforts to fight extreme poverty and preventable disease in Africa.
During his speech, President Clinton touched on many subjects and fired up the crowd with stories from his years in office, but he took time during his speech to praise former President Bush’s efforts to save lives from HIV/AIDS in Africa by creating the PEPFAR program. President Clinton went on to remind the crowd that America must continue to lead in the fight against AIDS, poverty and malaria!
It’s not everyday you can say “I met Bill Clinton!”
Spending six hours in the chilly wind was more than worth the wait yesterday in Baltimore — because I ended up passing a ONE band to the 42nd president of the United States!
Pictured left to right are Mike Fazzino , Genevieve Gearity , Deidree Bennett, Nancy Delgado, and President Clinton.
President Clinton certainly recognized ONE and was forthright, kind and agreed to take a photo with volunteer Nancy Delgado (who had braved the wait with me). As I was lining up the shot, President Clinton asked for my camera and gave it to an aid, insisting all four ONE members be in the picture!
We also gave ONE bands to many others, including Senator Cardin, Rep. Donna Edwards, Rep. Elijah Cummings and Senator Mikulski, who showcased her new ONE band while introducing the former president.
Passing a small white ONE band to a politician is a small way to help remember and recognize the big efforts that our nation is putting forth to help work with the world’s poorest people in the fight against extreme poverty and global disease in Africa.
Yesterday, we were extremely appreciative of President Clinton for making time for ONE, and we celebrate his work as a statesman and advocate for the world’s poor, especially in his efforts to help Haiti and Africa.
What an amazing day for all of us! Go ONE!
-Deidree Bennett, ONE congressional district leader
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
Earlier today, we were thrilled to find out that President Bill Clinton mentioned ONE in his award acceptance speech to Physicians for Peace.
Each year, Physicians for Peace — an organization devoted to building peace and international friendships through medicine — grants the Charles E. Horton Award for Humanitarian Service to the individual who has demonstrated “extraordinary and selfless humanitarian service to alleviate human suffering, particularly in low-income societies.”
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.
ONE members posing with a Pres. Clinton.
Last night, 15 ONE members and I attended a rally for U.S. Senate candidate Lee Fisher, who was joined by special guest, former President Bill Clinton.
We all had our “ONE Vote 2010” shirts on and took up an entire row in the middle of the 600-seat auditorium.
Everyone was full of energy and excited to hear Pres. Clinton speak. He briefly mentioned Haiti in his speech which focused mainly on the economy.
ONE is campaigning to ensure that the Congressional budget does not cut foreign assistance programs like Feed the Future that help people break the cycle of poverty and hunger.
The Horn of Africa is experiencing its worst drought in 60 years. More than 11 million people, mostly nomadic pastoralists and farmers in south-central Somalia, north-eastern Kenya, and south-eastern Ethiopia, are severely lacking access to food.
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.
As aid agencies warn more than 9 million people could be affected by a food crisis in East Africa, world leaders are failing to keep their 2009 promises to tackle the causes of chronic hunger and support farmers in the world's poorest countries.
