As we move into October, the push we started in August for ONE members to meet with their Members of Congress is still going strong. ONE Members across the country had over 70 meetings with district staffers from both the House of Representatives and the Senate! These meetings provided an amazing opportunity to let our elected leaders know that Americans really do care about the fight against extreme poverty and preventable diseases. However, these meetings were just the beginning when it comes to building relationships between ONE members and their Members of Congress. We hope these meetings mark the beginning of a long-term dialogue in our ongoing fight for the world’s poorest people.

Below are a few more of the meetings that recently happened, and continue to follow the ONE Blog to check out all the future meetings and activities of ONE members taking action in towns and cities across America.

Visit with Senator Chambliss’s office in Atlanta, GA

On September 15th Jessica Given had the pleasure of representing 40,000 ONE members in Atlanta when she met with staffer Steven Meeks in Senator Saxby Chambliss’ office. Specifically, the meeting was to discuss the urgency of the issue of Climate Change and to ask Senator Chambliss to support 5% of any revenue produced from future climate legislation to directly address this issue as the poorest people of the world would suffer the most while contributing the least to the problem of global warming. The meeting went well and Mr. Meeks assured Jessica that he would make sure to pass along the information and our request would be heard.

Visit with Senator Mikulski’s office in Fells Point, MD

On Thursday September 17, 2009 Deidree Bennet and six ONE members met with staff in Senator Mikulski’s Fells Point office where they asked that the Senator sign on to co-sponsor S.1524 Foreign Assistance Revitalization and Accountability Act of 2009. They were also able to talk about all the great activities that over 36,000 MD ONE members have helped with this year and discuss the Senator’s constituents want to take action in the fight against extreme poverty. The staffer’s also let us know that there is new email option on the Senator’s website and encouraged ONE member to let the Senator know their views through the website, so if you’re from Maryland shot them an email. It only takes a few minutes but it is important to let our leaders know we care about these issues.

Visit with Senator Crapo’s office in Boise, ID

On September 29, Matt Miller led a group of Boise ONE members to meet with Senator Crapo’s regional director, Bryan Ricker. Through the meeting they were able to discuss ONE’s mission as well as the need to remember the world’s poorest people in any upcoming climate legislation, the Water for the World Act and the Foreign Assistance Revitalization and Accountability Act of 2009. The volunteers were also able to discuss PEPFAR and how such life saving bills have direct ties to our national security interests in addition to helping those in need.

Mr. Ricker was interested to hear that ONE is over 5,000 strong in Idaho and growing. The meeting went very well and he was kind enough to meet with us for 45 minutes and assured them that all of the issues that were discussed would be brought to the Senator.

Visit with Senators Webb and Warner’s offices in Roanoke, VA

Before Allison Martin headed back to school for the fall she spent her last few days of summer advocating on behalf of the world’s poor! She coordinated a great group of ONE members in Roanoke, VA to introduce ONE and discuss global poverty issues at Senator Warner and Senator Webb’s local district offices. The volunteers were excited to represent over 46,000 ONE members across the state who come from all walks of life, faith communities, and political backgrounds to fight extreme poverty and preventable disease as one.