Mike Phelan, Vice President for ONE’s Union University chapter, warming up for the big game. Photo courtesy of Sarah White.
The men’s soccer team at Union University in Jackson, Tennessee brought the spirit of ONE onto their playing field last week when they donned ONE shirts during a crucial warm-up session for the quarterfinal game in the TranSouth Conference Tournament. Despite the near-freezing temperatures, the always-professional players managed to not only get their heads in the game, but help raise awareness for the world’s poorest people.
This was a successful first event for Union’s newly formed ONE Campus chapter, which launched this fall. ONE chapter members were on hand in hats and gloves distributing ONE bands and signing up students, all while cheering on their team from the sidelines. The group received a high turnout despite the weather, generating excitement and interest from their fellow fans, all while engaging fellow students about the importance of being advocates for those living on less than $1.25 a day.
Union’s ONE chapter head, Sarah White, was inspired by the energy and interest in this summer’s World Cup in South Africa and felt that partnering with the men’s soccer team would be a good opportunity to help raise ONE’s profile on campus. And with the team attracting players from all over the world -– Bosnia, Serbia, Brazil, Croatia, Scotland, Honduras and Guatemala, to name a few -– White felt the team presented a perfect opportunity to showcase the power of coming together as a team and a campus to advocate on behalf of the world’s poorest.
Visit Union’s new ONE chapter blog and stayed tuned as they begin to establish themselves on campus this year. Congrats Union, can’t wait to see what else you’ve got in store!
Just moments ago, Ghana and Uruguay kicked-off their big World Cup match. Ghana’s the only African team still left in the widely-loved soccer tournament, so here’s hoping that they go far.
But the Black Stars haven’t just been working hard on the field. They’ve teamed up with United Against Malaria to help save lives off the field, too. They’ve shown malaria PSAs, talked about the importance of using bed nets and other malaria prevention tools, encouraged their communities to join in the fight.
To learn more about how you can help kick malaria to the curb, check out United Against Malaria today!
The University of Michigan’s ONE chapter has had some trouble this year navigating through the bureaucracy of our administration.After awhile we came to the realization that the larger scale projects we’d been hoping to implement were not going to happen any time soon. Instead of getting discouraged we tried to think outside the box and put together some fun, small actions that would get the ONE name out to students.
Since football is one of the greatest traditions here,we thought it would be a great place to start. With that, one of the favorite things students like to do at games here (and many other places) is blow up beach balls and send them flying throughout the crowd. Piggy-backing on this idea – we got together and spray painted beach balls all black and then painted the ONE logo in white on them. We did this at an awesome pre-game tailgate with our ONE members.
When we launched the balls in the air we got a lot of questions about what the logo meant and why we were doing it. It made for a fun picture and was definitely a great way to get the word out. Just because the administration or faculty are being difficult doesn’t mean there is nothing left to try – think outside the box a little and it can end up being the best action you take.
Britain and France will today announce a joint initiative to help send 16 million African children to school in the next two years, in partnership with international football authorities.
At the East African Health and Scientific Conference in Kenya on Wednesday, experts testified that constraints in the health sector are exacerbating health problems in rural communities. Some blamed conditions imposed by the International Monetary Fund in the early 1990s.
An editorial by Michael Steele, former lieutenant governor of Maryland, appeared in today’s Washington Times. The piece praises President Bush’s work in Africa, noting that this story hasn’t made headlines in the United States but is making headlines around the world.
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.
