Check out pictures: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ericlabrat/sets/72157603851518922/

http://www.sacredheart.edu/pages/21017_mccain_event_draws_2_700_to_pitt_center.cfm

Okay, so the last debates before Super Tuesday are being held in the next two days on CNN. January 30th is the Republican Debate and January 31st is the Democratic Debate. And, since we are the coolest (i.e. most technologically advanced) generation, we get to submit questions to the candidates through an online tool on Politico.com.

Well, I just looked through the 626 questions in the “foreign policy (not Iraq)” category on the Democratic side and, to my dismay, only found 4 questions that relate to global poverty!!

So I know this is a last minute blog, but they are still accepting questions for the democratic debate. I really encourage you all to get on there and either write a question about extreme poverty or vote for one! It literally takes a minute, and I think it’s a great way to show the candidates that we care about this issue and perhaps get the issue talked about on a nationally televised debate!

Oh, and if you need an extra push: you can snag some OCC points for each question under the “make your own action” category!

The answer: Phone Calls. Don’t let that little dial tone discourage you either; it can be intimidating, I know, but you have to look beyond it. Your temporary discomfort WILL alleviate the discomfort of those living in extreme poverty worldwide. I think that’s a fair trade, don’t you?

Here’s how:

1. Find the bill that you want to support. You can check out the ONE.org Take Action page, ONE.org Issues page, check out your ONE emails, or any one of our poverty fighting partner’s webpage.

2. Find out if your members of Congress are already sponsoring the bill. You can find this on either the ONE Action pages for each bill (ex: the page of the Global Child Survival Act) or by looking the bill up in Thomas (rightfully named after Thomas Jefferson).

3. Call your member of Congress – U.S. Capitol Switchboard 202-224-3121.

4. Ask for the staff member who would work on your bill. Talk to them about who you are (especially that you are a constituent) and why you care about the bill. You don’t have to be an expert, passion matters more than anything here.

5. Follow up. Send an email thanking the person for their time and call back a week later and find out if they have worked on it. You’ll find that a little persistence goes a LONG way.

I find that to be a pretty simple formula, and it’s worth 1,000 points per call (but you have to report them using the “create your own action” page). There are a hundred more ways to fight poverty and score points with the Campus Challenge as well, and hundreds more that aren’t even listed on the Campus Challenge page.

So how do you fight poverty? What have you done that works? What do you want to try?

Let me (and the rest of the world) know. We’re counting on you.

Huzzah!

Mike Fazzino, Sacred Heart University

Everything spinning around me, my mind wandering in a million directions wondering how it could ever be possible to make the slightest impact on my world *snap* I’m back to reality. The realization of the real world and people all around me suffering day in and day out as I live my comfortable life taking advantage of every normal aspect of life to me. Suddenly I realize, it’s my chance to take the forefront and take immediate action, and there is ONE.

Attending the ONE Student | ONE Event at University of Washington helped me to realize that now is the time to step forward and take action as hundreds of students gather together to take on the challenge of making a difference in their generation. The African Children’s Choir standing in front of us singing, each one of them orphans from
Uganda that are stepping out and making a difference for their young generation rising up under us. It’s our time, it’s our moment. I challenge you, step up to the forefront, take on the challenge and impact your world and your generation to make a difference for the cause of ONE life.

He comments that if you go in and attack people because you don’t think they are doing enough, you might just offend them. Rather, focus on the good. Focus on what we can do moving forward. Ask for something small, and spend time to show them the impact their action has.

The candidates really love seeing ONE and getting ONE bands at their events. But we need to get beyond that band and into the policy. Republicans and Democrats will focus on different things in terms of fighting poverty, but that’s ok. We just need to focus on the ways that everyone wants to help, and then encourage them to do more.

Tricia is starting out by talking about just how massive our generation is, we are a larger generation than the Baby Boomers, and by 2016 we will be 30% of all voters.

But voting is just a fraction of what it means to impact campaigns. Campaigns really do rise and fall on the backs of young people. From volunteers to field staffers, we are the ones getting the leg work of campaigns done. If we start to work for candidates that want to do something about debt, aid, clean water, etc., we can send these people to represent us in Washington or our state capitols.

We may not be able to give big-bucks, but we can give long-hours, and when we give our time to the candidates to will do the most to fight poverty, we can put them in office.

ONE Student | ONE Vote is a conversation that we should all be having; how can we impact the electoral process so whoever is elected in 2008 is committed to fighting extreme poverty.

It’s hard to look someone in the eye, ask, “do you want to help fight extreme poverty?” and have them either mutter “no”, or just walk on by. It breaks my heart, but so it goes. Some people don’t realize just how desperate the crisis is, or how little it takes for them to make a difference.

But a fair number of people take a flyer, and a cheerful handful sign the ONE Declaration and ask for more information. And that is certainly worth the frustrations of asking strangers for a moment of their time.

Table on! It’s one of the first small steps to making a big difference.

Tomorrow, at 4 P.M., we’ll hear from Tucker Eskew, former Deputy Assistant to President George W. Bush; political strategist Tricia Enright; global health expert Josh Lozman; singer-songwriter and Salem band member Todd Anders Johnson; and Penn student activist Gelila Asnake in a panel moderated by Mike Allen, chief political correspondent for Politico.

As if that weren’t enough, U.S. Senator Arlen Specter, R-Pa., also sent a special message for Penn students via video.

If you are in the area, the event is in Irvine Hall at 4 P.M. tomorrow.

Check back here for more on the event as I cover it live on the blog tomorrow.