ONE’s Northern Exposure

Nov 4th, 2009 11:33 AM EST
By Aaron Banks

The U2 Tour wrapped up in Vancouver last week and ONE members from the home of the 2010 Olympic Games (as all my cab drivers were proud to remind me) didn’t let a steady cold rain keep them from coming out to sign up new ONE members.

Our Vancouver volunteers were an enthusiastic and engaged group of and I was fortunate enough to get to chat with a few of them.

Lauren Chan

Lauren learned about ONE from a high school teacher. And as Graduation Committee President, she led her class in purchasing 58,000 tetanus shots for UNICEF. It was the first time a Langara High School class had donated it’s graduation committee fund-raising to charity and a sign of Lauren’s commitment to making a difference on issues of global poverty and preventable disease.

Eva, Paul, Heather and Rebeca

We got a little lost in conversation, so I’m sure they’ll forgive me if I don’t get the relationships right. But in the picture above you can see husband and wife Paul and Eva, along with Paul’s sister Rebeca and Eva’s sister Heather. And how did Paul and Heather meet? Through their work as anti-poverty advocates, of course. Paul and Heather both worked as Regional Team Leaders for our partner organization World Vision in British Colombia. They admit that some of those meetings when they first met weren’t the most productive, but it’s clear that they’re the most dedicated of activists. Paul is in his first year of law school at Saskatoon University Law School, where he hopes to eventually specialize in human rights and international law. He told me that ONE broadly encapsulates what they want to do with their lives – work against poverty and for greater justice. Eva continues at World Vision and talked with me about the power of participation that comes when the public engages and really understands the issues – and she’s a big fan of ONE.org when it comes to educating people on global poverty. Eva also talked about how ONE empowers kids to get involved in different ways. “Kids who might otherwise think of global poverty and say “I work at McDonald’s, I can’t afford to sponsor a child.” “But through ONE, they realize that their voices are powerful.”

Harneet Gosal

Harneet is a student at Simon Fraiser University and first got involved with ONE in high school. She signed up tons of new ONE members and particularly enjoyed talking about the issues with concert-goers. She even had a vigorous discussion with a U2 fan from the Czech Republic who wanted to know why she thought fighting poverty and disease in the developing world was important. She must have made a good argument, because he signed up to become a ONE member.

Robin and Dave McCombe

When Matt Higginson asked Robin and Dave if they’d rocked their volunteer work, they replied “punk rock all the way.” I’m sure the band performing that night would be pleased. Robin and Dave first got involved with ONE through their church, Coquitlam Alliance, where they watched video of an interview Bono did with a minister in Boston. They were particularly excited to see how excited the younger generation was about signing up to join ONE. “Nothing against the old folks,” as Dave said, “but it’s great to see kids, teenagers and young couples couples get involved. They also saw a lot of white bands in the crowd worn by concert-goers who are already ONE members.

This is our last stop on the 2009 U2 360 Tour and there’s not much more left to say, except for a giant thank you. I’m sure I’m forgetting far too many people, but thank you to Weldon and Matt, Marisa, Roxy, Luisa, Nealon, Leah, the more than 1,000 ONE members who came out to volunteer at 44 shows, and last, but definitely not least, U2 for sharing this amazing tour with us.

TAGS: ONE, U2 360 Tour