Lobbying Sen. McCaskill & a Lick of ONE Cheesecake Brownie

ONE Saint Louis members experienced a heaping dose of coincidence yesterday. It just so happened that the one weekday our co-chair Bob McMullen had off of work that month was also Ben & Jerry’s Free Cone Day. It was also a convenient coincidence that Delmar Boulevard is home to both Senator Claire McCaskill’s office and Ben & Jerry’s. Luckily, Michele Sherod, who heads McCaskill’s St. Louis office, had half an hour free to meet with us that day to discuss legislation that will save millions of lives.

We discussed the Global Child Survival Act, the Global Poverty Act, the Education for All Act and the PEPFAR reauthorization. McCaskill has yet to co-sponsor any of these despite having supported the recent Jubilee Act and the International Affairs Budget allocations. Michele did not have any answers for us that day, but we agreed to follow up in two weeks.

To finish off the day, we hopped in line at Ben & Jerry’s to get a lick of the new ONE flavor. The line stretched out the door and around the block so I was relieved to find there was still some of the new ONE Cheesecake Brownie ice cream left. After I snapped a few pics of ONE gear in the shop an employee showed me their ONE Campaign manikin and posed for a pic with it. I wish we could have tabled there that day, but employees took care of that for us by handing out info and ONE bands with each cone of ONE Cheesecake Brownie. I realized the movement taking place here was no coincidence. Companies, customers and legislative staffers are all taking notice of the Campaign to Make Poverty History.

-Nick Stevens, ONE Saint Louis co-chairman

Free Cone Day: How sweet it is!

We don’t need a warm and sunny day in Seattle to enjoy a free ice cream cone and tell folks how they can help make poverty history. Crowds lined up at the Kirkland Ben & Jerry’s, in Kirkland, Washington, right across from downtown Seattle.

The lines were long at the tiny storefront facility; just enough room to keep the people moving in and out. Our table was set up right outside the door and a ONE member greeted everyone as they came in. Because Ben & Jerry’s posted info on how to join ONE via text, many were members before their free cone was in hand!

When the crowd thinned a little I snapped this picture of Seattle ONE volunteer Alicia greeting the front of the line (which extended down the block.)

Owners Jen Greene and Michele Sullivan and their fun staff made it a great event for all. They decked their shop out in an amazing Ben & Jerry’s ONE theme, and the hot chocolate was a real boost for us ONE volunteers. It was also a huge kick to see a sea of people enjoying their cones and wearing ONE stickers. That really made my day. We distributed many fresh ONE bands to the crowd and lots of people were really impressed with the Ben & Jerry’s / ONE and ONEVote 08 pamphlets we handed out.

Best of all, we had a great recruiting day. Lots of folks who had been looking for a good way to get more involved with ONE locally were excited to connect with our Seattle ONE group. A great day in the region. How sweet it is!

Stay close,

sammi in seattle =)

Free Cone (Yester)day

With an official new ONE ice flavor at Ben & Jerry’s, free cone day was a pretty big deal around here. Across the country, ONE staff and volunteers used the event to spread the word about the fight to end extreme poverty, sign up tons of new member - and okay- eat free ice cream.

Below, some great photos and a note from Matt Haber who organized a crew of volunteers down in South Florida.

Student leaders from the ONE chapter at Pines Charter School recruited volunteers and collected signatures for five hours after school at Ben Jerry’s for Free Cone Day. It was a great evening of fun, facts, and free ice cream as these hardworking kids spoke with entire families, young professionals, and even sailors in town for fleet week about extreme poverty across the world. There was a strong presence and a lot of interest in ONE by ice cream lovers.

This is a passionate bunch of young people who, along with their teacher Ms. De Pas, have built a high school ONE chapter with 150 members. You can check out more about these great kids on their chapter’s MySpace page.

-Matt Haber

Scott Simpson Scouts Out ONE Scoop

ONE member Scott Simpson of Vermont, who helped make Vermont a State of ONE, made it down to his local Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream Store in Burlington to check out the new ONE Cheesecake Brownie flavor and explore ONE’s new and unique partnership with the famous Vermont Ice Cream makers.

Scott told me that there was a lot of new excitement around the partnership and many people had seen ONE on Idol Gives Back. He even told me that they had already signed up many new ONE members at the store. Free Cone Day is approaching on April 29th and his local store has agreed to set up a ONE table too.

By uniting as ONE, and ONE lick at a time, we are spreading the word that saving lives in some of the most desperate places on Earth is not only possible in today’s world, it is a priority.

-Matthew Bartlett, ONE Regional Organizer

New ONE Ice Cream Launching in Burbank in a Few Hours

We’re at the Ben & Jerry’s scoop shop in Burbank, California, today, getting ready to launch the newest Ben & Jerry’s flavor, ONE Cheesecake Brownie! Ben and Jerry, ONE’s CEO David Lane, and the band DAUGHTRY are all joining us for this exciting, and delicious, event.

The Burbank Ben & Jerry’s, like all Ben & Jerry’s scoop shops during the month of April, is decked out in ONE gear. ONE Cheesecake Brownie is a new, fun way for ONE members to talk about ONE to folks who haven’t yet joined the movement. Ben & Jerry’s is helping get the conversation started by urging their customers to sign up via text while they’re in the shops, offering information about ONE in the stores and on the tables.

I’ll let you know later on how this afternoon’s event goes, and how good ONE Cheesecake Brownie is.

-Kimberly Cadena

Ben & Jerry’s Launches It’s New ONE Flavor!

Ben & Jerry’s is officially launching their new ONE flavor ice cream around the country! (We gave you a sneak peak back in February.)

What’s the delicious poverty-fighting flavor you ask? Cheesecake ice cream with chunks of brownie.

Tomorrow, you can expect to hear a bit more about it on the Ellen show- and today you can learn more at one.org/benjerry.

Also- last week ONE super volunteer Chris Cooper stumbled into a Ben & Jerry’s shop in Chicago and found the store and staff decked out in ONE gear and lit. Read his email below.

“I was in Chicago at the Navy Pier during our trip and we were walking through and I saw this guy in a ONE shirt. I asked him about it and he said he works for Ben & Jerry’s. Jennifer and I found the place and everyone was decked out in ONE shirts and bands. I looked at the glossy info card and there was my picture on it! They were surprised, a little impressed, and Jennifer got a picture of us together. They said they didn’t know much about ONE but that they were definitely going to check out the web site. The manger had people waiting in line so they could get that picture. It was pretty cool.”

A Critical Ice Cream-Related Matter

Ben and Jerry’s and ONE.org are teaming up in the fight to end extreme poverty and preventable diseases around the globe.

Our goals: raising awareness, a major recruitment drive … and okay, delicious ice cream.

Expect more in the coming weeks. I just wanted to make sure we looped in our blog readers first.

-Virginia Simmons