BAYLOR UNIVERSITY
School Name: Baylor University (Texas)
Student Leader: Justin Kralemann
Project Title: ONE BAYLOR, ONE WACO, ONE WORLD
Project Description: When we began planning our major event, our chapter spent quite a bit of time considering how to make the biggest impact while integrating all the qualities of Baylor that we feel have set us apart as well as propelled us into the top 10 in the Campus Challenge. In the end, we simply could not produce one single event to capture all of the areas we wanted to represent to our fellow universities and ONE. Therefore, we decided to hold a week of events with each day emphasizing a specific aspect of our chapter that reflects the character of our chapter, university, and campus community.
Goals: Our chapter’s goal was to highlight the following key areas: Community, Faith, Academics, Student Life, and Appreciation. We wanted to create an event for each of these areas and make sure it was clearly emphasized as something our chapter defined as “who we are as Baylor students”. Additionally, we wanted every event to not simply be a “sign up and leave” event, but rather wanted to produce events that would give students something they could take away or learn. In our minds, true advocacy is not only informing but impacting the lives of those we come in contact with to promote ONE. So, every one of our events were aimed at not simply trying to get a signature or email address, but instead trying to engage students in discussion and encourage active participation. Finally, we sought to raise awareness for ONE in each of our events and encouraging students to add their voices to the 1,300 Baylor students, 100,000+ Texans, and 2.4 million Americans who already have added their voice in the fight against extreme poverty.
Events: - Saturday, March 21: ONE Day of Service
Living in a city with 27% of the population below the poverty line hits close to home for members of our chapter. It is impossible to overlook those in our community who live in poverty every day. Therefore, we organized a day of service benefitting two community organizations. We worked with Mission Waco (www.Missionwaco.org) between 10am-noon where we worked with apporximatly 45 inner city children between the ages of 4-16. We continued our day of service by working with the World Hunger Farm (www.worldhungerrelief.org) between 1-4pm, where we planted, harvested, and sold vegetables from a local community garden with more than 25 Baylor volunteers outside of our own membership. These gardens are training sites for individuals planning to head overseas to teach the world’s poorest individuals how to plant crops and survive off the land.
- Sunday, March 22: FAITH and ONE
Baylor would not have had the ranking it did at the end of the challenge without integrating Baylor’s Christian community into ONE. Since faith is a very big part of our approach in utilizing the ONE Campaign at Baylor, we held a night of prayer and worship focused around ONE. We worked with ONE staffer Adam Phillips to integrate “ONE Sabbath” into our event. We held an event in our Student Union Building from 7-10pm where we had speakers and musical artist perform. We also had cookies and coffee from a popular local café as well as pictures from our chapter events from the past year’s OCC. We even had a sketch that a ONE member drew depicting the verse speaking about “Helping the Widows and Orphans.” Tihara Vargas, a graduate of Truett Seminary and coordinator for CARE, spoke about ONE and faith followed by performances by Baylor Rising Artist Network’s Michelle Piland, Laura Wedd, Macy Phenix, and Kyle Walker. The night concluded with the viewing of a NOOMA video called “Rich” by Rob Bell and passing out ONE Sabbath literature. More than 150 students attended the event.
- Monday, March 23: Screening of Sons of Lwala and Faculty Discussion
Seeing and meeting the individuals who starred in the Sons of Lwala at the Power 100 Summit really impacted my life. As a college student attending a university, academics have played an important role in how information about ONE has been presented. We thought integrating a great movie into an academic setting would be ideal to capture the scholastic quality of Baylor that has allowed us to excel this past year. Before the movie, Professor Jon Singletary, an individual who is very familiar with ONE (He attended the G8 Summit with ONE several years ago) spoke about ONE to students and staff. After the screening, a panel of distinguished professors including a medical doctor from our Biology department, the Dean of the school of Social Work, and several ONE members held an open forum discussion with students on issues of extreme poverty and global diseases. The discussion perhaps was the most meaningful part of the night as students and faculty engaged intellectual conversation on global poverty. Professors from all departments of Baylor encouraged their students to attend.
- Tuesday, March 24: Engaging Local Government
ONE members attended a City Hall meeting centered around the topic of poverty in Waco. As mentioned before, Waco has one of the highest poverty rates in the nation at around 27%. Recently, the city of Waco has been criticized on their stance in addressing the poverty rating. Several community members focused on addressing the issues of poverty in our city wanted to engage the City Council and Mayor in discussion about poverty. ONE members saw this as an excellent addition to our week and a way to engage city leaders and local government as well as support those who are fighting poverty in our city. We had the opportunity to speak with individuals who are dealing with homelessness as well as be interviewed by a local news station afterwards.
- Tuesday, March 24: ONE in the Residence Halls
While “Storm the Dorms” might not be new and unique, we felt it provided the best way to engage students and utilize our resources in an effective manor in order to make the largest impact for ONE. We worked with Baylor Campus Living and Learning (CL&L) several weeks before our event and got the resident hall directors on board with ONE. We banded them and they quickly became 100% supportive of our cause. On the week of our events, CL&L sent an email out to all 5,000 students living on campus about ONE and our events. On the day of our event, we had preferential access to 10 dorms on campus where we had tables, ONE members, sign-up sheets, and free pizza at every residence hall lobby at various times between 6-9pm. Residence hall leaders were present in order to encourage their residents to come down to the lobby and learn about ONE. Hundreds of students signed the ONE declaration in support.
- Wednesday, March 25: ONE day of Thanks
Our members of the ONE Campaign know we would not be where we are today without the support of our fellow students, faculty, and Baylor administration. We wanted to provide a way to thank everyone who had joined ONE since we started our chapter as well as throughout our week of events. So, we worked with Waco’s Dr. Pepper Museum (Dr. Pepper was invented in Waco) to integrate a community partner into our week of events. Between 2-5pm on this day, the Dr. Pepper Museum gave FREE admission ($5 value) to any student, faculty, or community member who was wearing a ONE band. We had a ONE table set up inside the museum where members conversed with visitors and students.
- Miscellaneous: While we created 5 days of events to promote ONE focusing on the areas listed above, we also had several creative projects going on throughout the week that we felt added to our events.
1. We worked with Baylor’s Library to create a ONE display focusing on issues of extreme poverty and global disease. The library coordinator put aside two glass display cases where ONE posters, bands, and t-shirts were put into them. The library also put an easel with a giant poster of our events in-between the cases. ONE members worked with the library to pull books from the library system focusing on ONE’s issues and they were put into the display so students could see the variety of books the library has on poverty and global disease. Additionally, the display featured the book “On the Move” by Bono. The display will continue to be available until early April and Bono’s book will be donated by our chapter to Baylor’s library system afterwards for future students to enjoy.
2. Our chapter worked with Baylor Dining Services to create a fun and easy way to raise awareness about ONE on our campus. We were able to get ONE cakes in the three residence hall cafeterias on campus decorated with ONE logos. This created a GREAT avenue into discussion as many students wanted to know why there desserts had the word “ONE” on them! We also gave ONE bands to all of the employees to wear in support of ONE and several signs were posted next to the dessert sections about the ONE Campaign and our chapter’s efforts.
3. Members of our chapter wanted to find additional ways to encourage students to sign up for ONE and reward them when they did. So, our chapter worked with several businesses to get discounts for individuals wearing ONE bands on various days. These discounts included a 10% discount to Common Grounds, a coffee house across from campus that many students utilize and a 10% discount to Hearts and Crafts, where many sorority members actively shop.
4. On Monday, March 16, ONE- Baylor was invited by the university chaplain to announce our week of activities at our three chapel services occurring at 9, 10, and 11am. Baylor requires all students to attend at least two semesters of chapel and therefore it provides an ideal audience of about 700-1000 students per a chapel service. In each chapel, we showed a ONE video and told students about our ranking (which received cheers) as well as our events. Afterwards, ONE members were in the lobby of the chapel building giving out ONE bands and signing students up.
Impact: In my mind, there are two ways to look at impact. First, how does something impact you? Secondly, how does something impact others?
To answer the first question, our final project had an impact within our own lives that none of my members including myself expected. Spending time with children in poverty and hearing the life story of an individual who until just recently was living on the streets of Waco radically impacted our lives as members of ONE- Baylor. Throughout our project, we began looking deeper into the issues of poverty and our events really put faces with numbers. After our community service event, our chapter decided as a whole to go back to Mission Waco and work with the children each month from now on.
Secondly, I believe our events had a tremendous impact on the community as well as our campus. I know there were a lot of children who went home with ONE bands and stickers the afternoon we volunteered with smiles on their faces as big as Texas itself. Likewise, our events on Baylor’s campus created an unprecedented awareness that has never been seen before. We literally inundated our campus with ONE from dorms to cafeterias to the library and classrooms. By the end of the week, if someone did not know what ONE was, a regular student would quickly let them know without me or my members having to inform them.
Links to Press Coverage:
ONE Week was featured on Baylor’s homepage: www.baylor.edu
(This may be down by the time you look at it. However, I have included a screen shot in our video.)
The Baylor Lariat covered a story on our events: http://www.baylor.edu/lariat/news.php?action=story&story=56870
Baylor Proud, a campus wide blog and email sent to all students and alumni featured a story: http://homepages.baylor.edu/baylorproud/2009/03/13/baylor-students-recognized-among-nations-leaders-in-fighting-poverty/
Baylor ONE members were featured on the 6 o’clock news on our local television station. Members with ONE logos can be seen at the city council meeting our group attended as part of our week of action. They interviewed Justin Kralemann after the meeting. However, we were unable to locate the footage online. http://www.kwtx.com/news
Meeting Agenda for city hall meeting: http://waco-texas.com/leadership/agendabus0324.html
Additionally, a photo with ONE members as well as a story in Waco’s newspaper can be found at: http://www.wacotrib.com/search/content/news/stories/2009/03/25/03252009wacpoverty.html
Photo/Video Links:
CURRY COLLEGE
School Name: Curry College (Massachusetts)
Student Leaders: Adam Ackley, John Abdulla
Project Title: Rock the Change Tour
Project Description: Curry College was honored and thrilled when they were announced to be in the top ten in the country out of all of the ONE groups. We, ONE Curry, decided that we wanted to rock the town of Milton, Massachusetts for our project. To do this we would attend an elementary/middle school, a college, and an elderly community to show all generations the effects of poverty and how they can be rock stars of change.
Our tour was kicked off at St Mary of the Hills Elementary/Middle School. We did a presentation about global poverty the effects of the absence of footwear. The presentation was done to grades five through eight and the students were inspired our presentation and the video displaying children who didn’t have any shoes. After we displayed the video we told the children how ONE Curry was a rock star of change by building a well in Africa. ONE Curry wanted the children to be activists and help them feel that they can make a difference—which is their school’s slogan this year. We encouraged the students to go out and preach the word to the younger students, and we stated that we would come back and collect shoes that they donated. The students seemed to be motivated, and they were ready to be rock stars.
The second stop on the tour consisted of us attending a retirement community. We were able to hear stories about how the women from a different generation fought global poverty and some inspiring stories of where the women came from. The elderly women inspired us to go out and rock the world by spreading awareness and telling our stories. The greatest lesson we learned was to help others in any way possible and work for the common good of society.
The third stop on the rock tour was Curry College. Here we spoke with the Deans and the President then had them sign the ONE proclamation to acknowledge the work we have accomplished and officially announce Curry College a ONE Campus. Once we had the faculty behind us we went and got our fellow peers to show their support by signing the ONE declaration, and we got over four pages of enthused advocates. We also held a trivia game with poverty facts, and the students were excited to participate and spread the knowledge. We definitely accomplished rocking our school.
The final stop was back at St Mary of the Hills. When we arrived the whole stage was covered in shoes. The students had come through by making sure that they were rock stars. We collected over 1,200 pairs of shoes that day and filled twenty-eight boxes. The boxes were shipped off to Souls4soles and are going to be sent domestic and internationally in the next few months to help impoverished areas.
We showed everyone in Milton, Massachusetts they could be rock stars and now it’s time for everyone to end global poverty by rocking the world!
Goals: The goals were to spread awareness about global poverty, collect shoes, and get the community enthused about rocking the change!
Events: St. Mary of the Hills, Unquity House, and Curry College
Impact: We had a strong impact on the younger students, and got them enthused about making a difference. We also were able to rally all different generations and bring awareness about one cause. I also believe that the senior citizens had an inspiring impact on us, as students, and were encouraging.
Links to Press Coverage: Curry Radio station (MLN), Curry Television (CC8)
Photo/Video Links:
SACRED HEART UNIVERSITY
School Name: Sacred Heart University (Connecticut)
Student Leader: Mike Fazzino
Project Title: The Millennium Development Goals
Project Description: Sacred Heart University students rallied together over several days to create projects revolving around the 8 Millennium Development Goals. We chose 8 individuals from all around the world from Kiva.org to highlight the 8 goals, and micro-financed their businesses so that we can work together to elevate them from poverty. Additionally, we decided that we’d use lots of home-grown and created materials instead of using our valuable $1,000 to buy supplies we could create on our own. So, we created giant life-size posters representing the 8 MDG’s as well as the 8 people we micro-financed. We used these as provocative displays to engage fellow SHU students by placing them around campus is highly travelled locations. We also gave out ONE bands if students agreed to sign a petition to support the 150 account of the FY2010 budget that we sent out to Congressman Jim Himes and Sens. Lieberman and Dodd. We used a good portion of our money to purchase over 1,000 pounds of food for the St. Charles Food pantry which we support, and used these projects to motivate others to join us and help us out. We also wanted to give the University something that would be a lasting reminder of what ONE stands for and what we do, so we donated a memorial bench that will be placed near the new Chapel on campus upon its completion in the fall of 2009. As a service-oriented University that thrives on understanding and creativity, we tried to incorporate lots of non-partisan work into our project as well as the final video.
Goals: To educate the SHU community on the Millennium Development Goals, as well as motivate students to care about issues and become future activists. We ultimately wanted to bridge the gap between some of the service on campus and the activism that many students don’t really know how to harness. We tried to do this by providing students with “actions” that they could partake in easily by bringing the events to them. As always, we made sure that everyone we spoke to learned about ONE, what the goals are, and how amazing we think the organization is!
Events: “ONE Day” where we set up all the displays and gave out bands, St. Charles Food drop-off, bench dedication, and separate sign-up and petition signing days.
Impact: In addition to micro-financing 8 incredible people, we were able to give the SHU community another dose of our activism and truly motivate others to act. We saw a huge outpouring from every facet of campus, and were really thrilled with how successful and how positive all our feedback was on the projects. We also made a difference in the lives of many Bridgeport community members, which is something we all feel great about. This has ultimately drawn a lot of attention to our campus organization and ONE as a whole, so we’re very happy with the results.
Photo/Video Links:
U. OF CALIFORNIA - DAVIS
School Name: University of California - Davis
Student Leader: Trena Riley
Project Title: Celebrate Davis as a City of ONE
Project Description: For our final project, we wanted to bring our community together as ONE to Celebrate Davis as a City of ONE. We started by asking the Mayor of Davis to declare Davis a ONE City. The Mayor, along with the other Council Members, was very enthusiastic about ONE and proud to be a part of the Campaign. The Mayor officially presented UC Davis ONE members with a proclamation declaring Davis a City of ONE. Time to Celebrate!
We began immediately making a presence around town, at businesses, city hall, farmers market, and campus. We made partnerships with the downtown businesses, at places where the locals frequent often. Starbucks was covered with ONE posters and fliers and all of the Baristas wore ONE bands. The local record store and local comic store also sported ONE bands, ONE t-shirts, and posters. Davis High School students became involved in the Campaign, and some students passed out fliers around the high school campus and hung banners. Davis truly became a ONE city!
So while the town was covered in ONE, we still needed to inform the community about ONE. We hosted a ONE-night event to bring our community together, as ONE, to learn about the problems haunting our generation throughout the world. We started the evening with a Feast or Famine Dinner, focused on educating local Davis citizens on the world’s poorest. Each table was assigned a country, either in the first, second, or third world. They learned about their country’s population, income levels, numbers of people infected with disease, status in the world, and were then fed accordingly. As people were finishing their “Feast or Famine” Dinner, three Davis local musicians played music that they wrote specifically for the ONE Campaign. People were very responsive to this event and were brought into the world of those in poverty.
To get the people at the dinner to truly understand and act, we hosted a “TakeTheWalk” – ONE mile, barefoot, through campus and through Downtown. Most people were not only barefoot, but also wearing ONE shirts, so as we marched through town, we not only drew attention to ourselves and to ONE, but also inspired people to join in the Walk. It was a successful turnout and for all those involved, takethewalk.org will donate a pair of shoes to a village in Africa.
To help Davis citizens understand the effect of AIDS and poverty and to help them understand what they could do to help, we hosted a screening of the movie “Sons of Lwala.”
With the food left over from the entire event, we went to the Davis homeless shelter, and donated all the food to the locals living in poverty. While we had a “Feast or Famine” dinner to educate about the problems of poverty, we also wanted to host a feast for those living in poverty in America.
Davis really is a City dedicated to ONE – and for that, we should CELEBRATE!
Goals: Bring the entire community of Davis, together with the University, as ONE to celebrate ONE and celebrate Davis as a city of ONE. Spread AIDS and Poverty awareness throughout the community by bringing people from all over the community, aligning with other organizations that hold the same values as ONE.
Events: March 10, 2009 – Davis declared a City of ONE at City Hall by Mayor Asmundson
March 23, 2009 – Feast or Famine Dinner with Live Music
March 23, 2009 – “Take the Walk” across campus and through downtown Davis
March 23, 2009 – “Sons of Lwala” Movie Screening
March 24, 2009 – Davis Homeless Shelter “Feast”
Impact: By bringing together our entire community of Davis, and not just the University, we were able to make Davis a city of ONE, involving city leaders in the campaign. Partnering with local businesses such as Starbucks, Zia’s Delicatessen, Armadillo Music, and Strom’s Cards and Comics, we were able to involve even more people in even more ways. By involving different organizations and causes, such as (RED), TakeTheWalk, The Lwala Project, and Hunger Clean Up, in our events, we were able to make partnerships, obtain more members, and inspire even more action. We made connections, inspired people to act, and got so many more people to sign the ONE Declaration. Despite the fact that the week of March 16-21 was finals week for UC Davis, and the week of March 23-28 was Spring Break, we were successfully able to make ONE a permanent presence not only on Campus but all over town.
Links to Press Coverage: http://cityofdavis.org/meetings/councilpackets/20090310/Agenda%2003-10-09.pdf
http://www.one.org/blog/2009/03/11/davis-ca-is-a-city-of-one/
https://explore.twitter.com/OneCampaign
Photo/Video Links: http://www.flickr.com/photos/36672152@N05/
UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA
School Name: University of Florida
Student Leader: Andrea Morley
Project Title: ONE Week. ONE Campus. ONE Voice.
Project Description: The UF Chapter of the ONE Campaign recently held a week of awareness with the theme “ONE Week. ONE Campus. ONE Voice.” Monday through Friday, members of the chapter tabled in popular areas of campus. They handed out flyers that were uniquely designed and ordered promoting the major event on Thursday of the week. They also had people sign the ONE Declaration as they passed. Finally, the chapter utilized the bright colorful jewelry from Bead for Life as a way to attract students. They were able to sell over 800 dollars worth of the jewelry and handed out information about the ONE Campaign as well as flyers about the issues.
The UF chapter collaborated with over 8 different organizations on and off campus for the main portion of their week of awareness. They created a mock refugee camp, renting camping equipment from a campus outfitter. The tents were then decorated with rope and tarps to look more in character. Each tent was assigned a UN Millennium Goal with an organization that is related to that goal presenting out front. For example, Gators for HIV Education handed out information about Malaria, HIV, and Tuberculosis. They also gave out free condoms and sponsored free HIV testing for students. Universities Allied for Essential Medicines represented global partnership. They planned games that got students interested in the statistics about global access to medicine.
Free beans and rice were available along with water to demonstrate the plain, small portions that are given in refugee camps. Lansana Camara, an African musician from Guinea, was also invited to play a Kora as entertainment. ONE shirts and bands were given out to students and other interested people that signed the ONE declaration. Jewelry from Bead for Life was also sold at the event.
Sons of Lwala was shown immediately before the mock refugee camp and a guest speaker, Peter Ter, was invited to share his experience growing up in a Kenyan refugee camp. The mock refugee camp was held on UF’s main plaza. This attracted passersby in addition to students that received our flyer and facebook advertisements ahead of time.
Three reporters representing three different papers came out to the event and interviewed many of the officers and students that came to the event. In the next two days, two stories on ONE and the event were published in two well read papers. The Alligator is the most widely read college newspaper in the US and was one of the two papers.
From the event, the ONE UF Chapter gained new interested participants, raised awareness on campus and in the community about the issues, built relationships with organizations that shared similar goals, and had many people support Bead for Life as well as sign the ONE Declaration.
Goals: Many students have some basic knowledge of the root causes of poverty and what can be done to address them, but not many are aware of the magnitude, current challenges or major accomplishments that have been made to combat those causes. Our goals, therefore, are to introduce students to those factors, and make them aware of what they can do to make a difference. By focusing our events on the Millennium Development Goals, the idea of poverty is broken down into 8 main areas, thus enabling students to gain some clarity of those issues and choose to gain more information about one in particular that is most interesting to them. Our hope is to show students that through a step-by-step, bottom-up approach, change can truly be made to improve the living conditions of the most vulnerable regions in the world. As evident in our selling of the Bead for Life jewelry, which is just one small organization, focused in just one country, students can see how similar, direct-impact actions can have a positive effect. Our goal is to break down the overwhelming issues of such a broad idea as poverty, and show students how small actions can have the most immediate and constructive impact.
Events:
Monday March 23 - Thursday March 27:
Tabling, signing declaration, selling Bead for Life jewelry
Thursday Mar 26:
6pm - Screening of Sons of Lwala; discussion with student Peter Ter, a lost boy from Sudan who spent time in Kenyan refugee camps.
8pm - Kickoff of refugee camp; serving rice/beans at hunger tent; selling of Bead for Life jewelry; music provided by Lansana Camara, traditional Kora player and founder of Project Guinea; free HIV/AIDS screening; HIV/AIDS information provided by GHIVE; Information from Universities Allied for Essential Medicine.
Impact:
- Raised $861 for Bead for Life to help Ugandan women raise their families out of extreme poverty.- Through tabling and visiting classrooms, received 178 signatures for the ONE Declaration.
- Created awareness on campus about the eight Millennium Development Goals, an immediate impact as students approached the group asking about the tents that were being set up for the mock refugee camp.
- Educated students about global issues through speaking directly to students and handing out information sheets.
Links to Press Coverage: http://www.gainesville.com/article/20090328/ARTICLES/903281011
http://www.alligator.org/articles/2009/03/27/news/campus/090327_one.txt
http://www.ufl.edu/spotlight/ter.html
http://uaemuf.wordpress.com/; **scroll down for coverage of event
Photo/Video Links:
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
School Name: University of Michigan – Ann Arbor
Student Leader: Stephanie Parrish
Project Title: Making Poverty History ONE Step at a Time
Project Description: UofM decided that we CAN make poverty history if we tackle the problem ONE step at a time. Our commercial says it best, “the problem is enormous,” but we believe we have the power and passion to stomp out global poverty. This idea was the inspiration for our final project: Making Poverty History ONE Step at a Time.
Through a series of events, ONE Michigan took over campus for 24 hours to bring these issues to the forefront. We had ONE objective: to reach every student that came to campus. We held three events that outlined three steps: awareness, education and advocacy.
Awareness
For ONE week leading to our big day, campus was covered in fliers. We started by simply telling campus that “ONE is coming.” We were pleasantly surprised at the buzz this ambiguity created. This initial campaign involved a video that circulated on Facebook throughout the week.
For the day of, we took over the heart of campus: the Diag. Banners and a lot of yelling grabbed students’ attention. At noon, we rolled out 300 square feet of bubble wrap, blasted music, and invited students to join us in “stomping out global poverty.”
We created an 8’x8’ mural: a map of Africa with the ONE logo in the middle. Incorporating our theme, we asked students to take ONE final action: leaving their footprint on Africa.
Education
At the candlelight vigil, students read stories and poems by people affected by poverty. We read statistics and passed around pictures to put a face behind the numbers. We had ONE minute of silence, followed by an explanation of the effect poverty had on the world in just those 60 seconds.
As students approached our tent on the Diag Day, they were greeted by a shocking display of 80 gallons of water: the approximate amount an average American uses daily. We challenged students to guess how this number compares to the amount of clean water available in parts of Africa. This sparked valuable conversations, which led to us explaining the mission of the ONE Campaign and the Global Food Security Act.
The Hunger Banquet was an interactive simulation demonstrating the effects of climate change on the food crisis. As students entered, they were assigned to the high-income, middle-income or low-income group. The program examined case studies from the world’s most marginalized populations and explained how climate change can impact agriculture. Guests were served meals based on their group, which was a visible demonstration of food inequalities. After the meal, we led a reflection session followed by a speech by one of UofM’s most prominent researchers in the field of agriculture and development.
Advocacy
This is the final, and most important, step of our project. Once students began to understand the issues, they were jumping at the opportunity to take action. Throughout all of our events, students signed the ONE declaration and letters to Senator Stabenow and Senator Levin. We explained the impact that writing a letter or calling a congressman can have.
Goals: We had ONE important goal for this project: to establish the ONE Campaign on the University of Michigan campus. Many students did not understand the complexities of global poverty or how they could make a difference. With this in mind, we decided to focus our project on reaching as many students as possible. Through interactions and simulations, we hoped to provide students with the tools necessary to take action themselves. It was important for us to convey the idea that simple steps can be taken by individuals to contribute to a global movement to end poverty. We wanted to show that ONE person can make a difference, it’s that simple.
Specifically, we hoped to reach 1,000 signatures of the ONE declaration and send 400 letters about the Global Food Security Act to Senator Stabenow and Senator Levin. Both of these were accomplished.
Events:
Candlelight Vigil: Tuesday, March 24. 9pm. UofM Diag.
Diag Day: Wednesday, March 25. 10am-3pm. UofM Diag.
Hunger Banquet: Wednesday, March 25. 6-7:30pm. Michigan Union.
Impact: Looking at the numbers, we have collected a total of 446 letters to Senator Levin and Senator Stabenow. These letters are asking them to support the Global Food Security Act. 308 new students signed the ONE declaration, bringing our grand total for the year up to 1,073 members.
On top of these accomplishments, our final project officially established the ONE Campaign’s presence on the University of Michigan campus. Throughout the planning and implementation of our events, we collaborated with eight other student groups (University Unions Arts & Programs, Circle K, Students Organizing for Labor & Economic Equality, Students Allied for Freedom & Equality, RESULTS, Amazin’ Blue A Capella, Michigan Student Assembly, and LSA Student Government). We established relationships with administrators such as President Mary Sue Coleman and Vice President of Student Affairs, E. Royster Harper.
We gave out 150 free ONE Michigan t-shirts, 150 ONE bands and 12 ONE drawstring bags. Students will wear these around campus throughout this year and next. We received an e-mail from Sabrina Shingwani, the 2008 Michigan Student Assembly President, applauding us for the successful event. She stated that: “Everyone has been talking to me about ONE today, asking if I’ve been to the Diag yet and who they should talk to in order to get more involved.”
We created an 8’x8’ mural, as shown in the video and pictures, to be hung in a residence hall on campus shortly. This is a permanent installment that demonstrates the University of Michigan’s support of the ONE Campaign and our cause. Most importantly, we proved to students that they, as ONE person, have the ability to make an impact.
Links to Press Coverage: After the Top 10 schools were announced, the Michigan Daily (our biggest school newspaper) wrote an article explaining the ONE Campaign, ONE Michigan’s accomplishments, and outlining our events for the final project. The article was on the front page of the paper on March 9, 2009.
University Takes Top 10 Spot in ONE Campus Challenge
Photo/Video Links:
Photo album
U. OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
School Name: University of Southern California
Student Leaders: Betsy Avila and Nare Ovsepian
Project Title: ONE@USC's "SAVE ONE" Promotion
Project Description: The SAVE ONE promotion used the current economic recession as a start-off topic for ONE@USC's biggest on-campus visual display ever! One of the biggest obstacles we have had on our campus is advocating against extreme poverty during the economic recession. For the final project, we decided to use that as a our starting point. Using facts from the World Bank's "Swimming Against the Tide," we've highlighted some estimates about the financial crisis' impact on developing countries, and why it's not excuse to cut aid short.
We decided to paint the campus red. Using custom-designed posters for the promotion, ONE@USC kicked the week off with a massive flyer and banner invasion. High traffic locations, classrooms, fountains, lawns and offices were covered in real-world statistics and estimates. Professor's desks were piled with brochures, posters and flyers, along with welcome kits for those unfamiliar with ONE@USC.
But nothing was bigger than the visual display on our main campus walkway. Two thousands small red flags surrounded extra-large posters down the road, roughly corresponding with the numbers displayed by the statistic. For example, according to the World Bank, due to the economic recession: the number of people living under $2 a day will increase by 53 million by the end of 2009. 53 flags - Save one. The number of people suffering from malnutrition has risen by 44 million. 44 flags - Save one. The number of jobs lost worldwide can increase by 30 million. 30 flags - Save one.
In addition to posting them on the largest lawn on campus, Students were then invited to pick up the flags, symbolically "saving one" of the people, jobs and dollars. Throughout the week, listservs announced our progress with the OCC project so students were aware of the project. The entire display led up to a final day-long tabling even at the center of campus, where a large table was set up, and people were invited to bring the flags to the table to learn more about how they could get involved. Every member of ONE@USC, (including active professors!), showed up at the tabling to help pass out bands and shirts to newly recruited members. Overall, the display was a huge success, and introduced hundreds of new students to the cause.
Goals: Show the effects of the financial crisis on the world's poorest nations via large ticketing campaign and visual display. Raise awareness and invite students to learn more about issues of global poverty through interactive displays of information.
Events: Week-long process of putting up flyers and flags all around campus for students to take. Week-long visual display with extra-large posters announcing World Bank statistics as well as thousands (read, THOUSANDS) of little red flags asking students to participate by "saving one" person.
Day long tabling event asking students to sign up for ONE as well as interact with the display by taking a flag.
Impact: The Save One Campaign was one of the most successful events we've had on the USC campus. Every student took time to stop by the display which looked like a field covered with red flags, warnings to the effects of the financial crisis. People carefully took a flag and quickly approached out table full of questions and wanting to learn more. Everyone was more than willing to sign the ONE declaration, grab a wristband and shirt, and help volunteer. We were left with over 100 of signatures by the end of the day and with a group of new, eager volunteers.
Photo/Video Links: The ONE SCampaign on Facebook (includes all the photos of the event)
WEBSTER UNIVERSITY
School Name: Webster University (Missouri)
Student Leader: Nick Stevens
Project Title: Call Out Hunger Campus Takeover
Project Description: For an interactive look at Webster's project, visit http://www.ONEstl.org/top10project.
The goal of the “Call Out Hunger Campus Takeover” was not to “stomp out hunger” but rather to bring an end to hunger by calling Senators and asking for their support of the Global Food Security Act (S. 384). ONE Webster set a goal of 100 phone calls. With the help of ONE Webster members who tabled all day in the University Center Webster students, faculty and staff made 107 phone calls to the nation’s capitol.
The day was about more than just phone calls. In an entire day of events ONE Webster put a strong emphasis on education and entertainment. ONE Webster kicked off its “Call Out Hunger Campus Takeover” with a letter-writing workshop with Bob McMullen, leader of Bread for the World’s Saint Louis Chapter. The workshop taught students how to effectively impact elected officials through handwritten letters.
Following the workshop, Professor John Ginsburg and his students presented on their experiences in Namibia this past summer. The presentation included pictures, history and culture of the country. Next, Dr. Mark Manary of Project Peanut Butter explained how he addresses childhood malnutrition in Africa using a peanut butter type substance. He also explained the need for agricultural sustainability and the ways we can achieve it in developing countries in Africa.
Putting education aside for a bit, ONE Webster partnered with Webster University’s Campus Activities to put on the “Band the Bands Concert.” Musicians Ian Lubar and Biran “Essince” Collins entertained the crowd before Illphonics, an emerging St. Louis band, stepped to the stage. The front man Larry “Fallout” Morris, a Webster alum, sported his ONE shirt and weaved in the importance of acting as ONE in his lyrics.
Mixing entertainment and education, ONE Webster screened the film “Sons of Lwala,” also shown at the Power 100 Summit. Milton Ochieng’, one of the stars of the film interns down the street from Webster University and agreed to stop by to speak about the film. He spoke and took questions for more than half an hour addressing topics such as corruption, healthcare and, of course, global hunger.
Michael Braeuninger, Supervisor of International Services at the St. Louis Area Chapter of the American Red Cross, was the final speaker. He addressed some of the more immediate causes of hunger such as armed conflict and natural disasters.
After all of this, there was need for reflection. The entertainment and advocacy was finished. ONE Webster members gathered on the “Puny Muny” at Webster to remember the more than 900 million people who go hungry each day. Though the torrential downpour of the day had subsided, the wind blew out our candles. We stood in silence for more than a minute to reflect on the day and the people we were fighting for. Closing with a group hug, we ended the “Call Out Hunger Campus Takeover.”
For more information see http://www.ONEstl.org/top10project.
Goals:
1) Make 100 phone calls and send 50 hand-written letters to Congress encouraging them to support the Global Food Security Act.
2) Sign Up 100 new members for the ONE Campus Challenge bringing ONE Webster‘s total online membership to more than 200 members.
3) Raise money for Project Peanut Butter.
Events:
- Galaxy Radio Station Takeover
- Letter Writing Workshop led by Bob McMullen of Bread for the World
- Namibia Student Trip Presentation
- Project Peanut Butter Presentation
- Peanut Butter Bake Sale
- Band the Bands Concert
- “Sons of Lwala” Movie Screening
- Milton Ochieng’ of “Sons of Lwala” presentation
- Michael Braeuninger Red Cross Presentation
- Hunger Memorial
Impact: ONE Webster made a difference on Webster University’s campus by getting students and faculty directly involved in ending global hunger. After a full day of events, raising money and making t-shirts for children, students also filled Sen. Claire McCaskill and Sen. Kit Bond’s voicemail boxes asking them to co-sponsor the Global Food Security Act. The Project Peanut Butter Bake Sale raised $70.54 to help malnourished children return to health in Malawi and other parts of Africa.
Links to Press Coverage:
http://media.www.webujournal.com/media/storage/paper245/news/2009/03/19/Lifestyle/One-Webster.Makes.National.Top.10-3677969.shtml
Photo/Video Links:
http://www.ONEstl.org/top10project
http://www.flickr.com/photos/21889143@N05/sets/72157616007281026/show/
WOFFORD COLLEGE
School Name: Wofford College (South Carolina)
Student Leader: Tomas Moreno
Project Title: We Only Have ONE Week to Change the World
Project Description: We wanted to show our campus: including students, faculty, and staff, that a few dedicated individuals truly had the ability to change the world in ONE week. As such, we approached the challenge in that same manner; what does it take to change the world? We needed to educate, to raise awareness, and to complete direct actions. So, we worked at making our project and our events reflect this. We began with teaching in classrooms, and through videos and having discussions. Then we showed our support and raised awareness via our rally, and trivia. We directly affected by signing petitions, raising money for specific projects and lobbying. And lastly, we had a party to celebrate us achieving our goal, which in turn led to us raising more awareness.
Goals: To show the campus, the city, and the nation that in a week we could change the world. We wanted to get at least 250 signatures for our two petition focuses, the Global Food Security Act, and a reauthorization of the Foreign Assistance Act. We wanted to raise in two weeks $1000 for Nothing But Nets, $200 for City of Hope and $100 to support the eradication of Polio. And lastly, we wanted to get the campus and the city to start discussing these issues and to create a lasting change on campus to promote activism.
Events:
- ONE Art Contest. This contest was used as a means of reaching out to people to make them begin thinking about the issues of Global Poverty and Disease. Moreover, it had the added benefit of reaching out to a constituency of our campus that is usually overlooked. This artwork was then used to promote our ONE Week Events.
- Nothing But Nets Week. During this week, ONE members worked with two other organizations to promote awareness of the ONE issues and specifically malaria. Here, we were able to complete teach-ins at 29 different classrooms spanning 10 majors. Moreover, shirts were sold with 90% of the proceeds going towards Nothing But Nets. Ultimately we were able to raise $600 to Nothing But Nets, but we will be working on completing our pledge to raise $1000 for the rest of the year.
- ONE Scoop. Here, ONE @ Wofford partnered with our Biology Department and BBB the Biology Honors Society to show the film “Sons of Lwala” with the tagline, “Get the scoop on ONE with a scoop of ice cream”. After the film, a discussion was started on how the college could affect change in Kenya; events are being planned for the fall. The idea was to promote ONE and its issues to a group that is usually not focused on the issue of extreme poverty.
- ONE Sports Week. We worked with our Sports Marketing Team to promote the ONE issues at all sporting events during the week of March 22nd. Moreover, at each event facts were given out along with prizes and the team sporting ONE bands.
- Women’s Tennis Team Banding. See Above. Moreover, in between matches facts about extreme poverty were given out with ONE members tabling the event as well.
- Baseball Team Banding. See Above. Moreover, the team allowed ONE trivia to be used in between innings along with ONE bands being given out to all incoming fans.
- ONE Week. We worked with our College Administration to make the week before Spring Break ONE Week. All departments as well as the college’s administration promoted all activities.
- What’s Fair About Fair Trade? Panel. As the first event in our ONE Week, we wanted this to also serve as an introduction into the issues that we would deal with the rest of the week. Here, ONE President, Tomas Moreno, the Economics Department Chair, John McArthur, Economics Professor Timothy Terrel (noted on campus as being opposed to Fair Trade), Government Department Chair William DeMars, and College Chaplin Ron Robinson discussed Fair Trade. Here, all panelists ended up in agreement that Fair Trade was a program that should be supported so long as it is maintained as a niche market. Moreover, all panelists agreed that the college should support a microcredit system in order to truly affect change in the developing world.
- ONE Step Forward. This was our largest and most impactful event. Here College President, Benjamin Dunlap, as well as Campus Union President Matt Abee reaffirmed the campus’ declaration as a ONE Campus. Moreover, declarations were made by 16 other campus organizations supporting the ONE Campaign including: STAND, Twin Towers (local community service), Amnesty International, AWARE (Activists Wanting Awareness, Response and Education), Wofford College Democrats, Alpha Phi Omega, Kappa Alpha Order, Sigma Nu Fraternity, Kappa Delta Sorority, Pi Kappa Alpha Fraternity, Sigma Alpha Epsilon Fraternity, Wesley Fellowship (Methodist Organization), March of Dimes, Residence Life and Souljahs for Christ (Nondenominational Christian Organization). Moreover, here, our Campus Dining Services, Aramark, agreed to donate left over food to the local soup kitchen the Friday before every break and to work with students on arranging a plan to transport leftover food every day starting next year.
- Tacos and Trivia. Here ONE members tested the knowledge of the campus. All questions (of which there were 30) had a link to ONE in some way, be it the celebrity members, bands that support ONE or its partners, facts about poverty, facts about the OCC, or facts about the ONE @ Wofford Campaign. Here we wanted to show the campus all of the ties to ONE that they had, from listening to bands that support ONE, to watching movies with ONE supporters in them. As a result, all in attendance joined the ONE @ Wofford Campaign.
- Vagina Monologues. ONE partnered with the campus’ chapter of Amnesty International to put on the Vagina Monologues. Here we highlighted scripts that focused on women in either developing or undeveloped countries. Moreover, we raised $270.80 for the City of Hope, a woman’s shelter in the DRC as of 3/ 26 with more donations still coming!
- ONE Interfaith Sabbath. Here, we brought together students of different faiths together to discuss why they, and their faith promote giving back. We had representatives of the Christian, Muslim, Jewish, Hindu, and Buddhist faiths. Together their speeches showed how important giving is no matter what you believe in. As a final speech, our College Chaplain spoke on the unity of the faiths behind a common goal, drawing from various religious texts, all with the same purpose, to encourage people to give to those who need it. At the end of the service, those in attendance committed to an action to bring us closer to our mutual goal of ending poverty within our lifetime to be displayed on our Interfaith Prayer Wall.
- Rock Poverty Out! ONE @ Wofford partnered with our city’s College Town Initiative to promote a ONE through the help of two bands. We felt the need to expand our reach beyond our activism and our campus. So, we worked with our College Town Initiative to make our annual CollegeFest gathering of the 6 colleges within a 15-mile radius a ONE Event. We worked with organizers to allow ONE to pass out flyers and the bands agreed to perform sporting ONE gear! Thus, David Barnes and Nappy Roots both performed in front of 6 colleges and approximately 10,000 people wearing ONE gear! Through this, we are working on creating ONE organizations on these campuses as well!
- Lobby Day. ONE @ Wofford President who was already going to Washington to lobby on Climate Change with Oxfam America agreed to lobby our Senators about the ONE issues as well. This lobbying was supplemented by the 400 petition signatures we had on the reauthorization of the FAA with a pledge for more later. While there was no pledge for support from our senators about this issue, they did say they would consider it and possibly support the FAA if and when it came up. Secondly, appointments were made for the local offices to lobby about the Global Food Security Act as petitions were still being signed at the time of the lobbying visits.
- ONEatWofford.blogspot.com. This blog served as a tool for the ONE @ Wofford planning committee to outline how each event was planned. This included tips on getting appointments with College Officials, outlines of events, timelines and reflections on all of the events by their main sponsor. This is to serve as a tool for other activists so that they can complete bigger and better events in the future using our activism as a starting point.
Impact: We were able create a partnership on our campus that has already led to us planning events for the fall (can’t detail them here though for the sake of the OCC). We were also able to show every aspect of our campus how important the issue of global poverty is and are working with professors to incorporate either education on the issues or direct activism in the classroom. We were able to raise almost $1000 to go to the City of Hope, polio eradication through Rotary International, and Nothing But Nets. We have created lasting relationships with our college administration as well as students on other campuses in the area.
Links to Press Coverage:
www.goupstate.com/article/20090325/ARTICLES/903251057/1083
http://www.wofford.edu/newsroom/story.aspx?id=51608
Photo/Video Links:
Photos: http://picasaweb.google.com/ONE.at.Wofford/TopTen2009?pli=1&gsessionid=vrP8ABNVwgEhXV0KrpYhxA#
WRIGHT STATE UNIVERSITY
School Name: Wright State University (Ohio)
Student Leader: Jenny Otto
Project Title: ONE More Step in the WRIGHT Direction
Project Description: Wright State University’s final project is titled “ONE More Step in the WRIGHT Direction” to highlight the work the campus’s ongoing dedication to end global poverty and AIDS. The project focuses on uniting ONE schools in the state of Ohio to increase political action, educate communities, and promote the ONE agenda. Wright State University invited four schools to participate in ONE Walk during the weekend of March 26-29 (Ohio State University, Franciscan University at Steubenville, Miami University, and Wilmington College). Wright State’s walk is March 29th.
The project involves walking a 1 mile path to represent the distance between the schools included (Wilmington College, Franciscan University at Steubenville, and Wright State University). We want to remind walkers about the importance of walking in developing countries. Around the path, facts about how far people living in Africa have to walk to fulfill daily living skills were posted. Examples of signs were: The average distance girls and women in developing countries walk each day to fetch water is 3.6 miles. If clean water was nearer, this time could be spent improving literacy.
The purpose was to have participants consider the small sacrifice of their walk relative to the walks that people in Africa take every day. Students were asked to walk at least 1 mile at the event. Students who walk at least a mile will be entered in a raffle for the event t-shirts, ONE garb, and other prizes donated by the community.
In addition to the walk, a letter writing table will be set up. The table will be staffed by members of the Social Work club. Letters will be written to Senator Voinovich who serves on the foreign relations committee about S. 384, the Lugar-Casey Global Food Security Act. Students who write a letter will be given a t-shirt designed specifically for the event.
To further educate people about global hunger issues, statistics will be posted around the free food tables. Examples of signs are: Every day, almost 16,000 children die from hunger-related causes--one child every five seconds. The purpose of this is to draw students’ attention to the toll hunger takes on hungry individuals in developing nations. The ONE campus group will partner with Residential Community Association (RCA) who has purchased $800 in food for the event, will prepare it, and staff the distribution table.
The Social Work Club and the First Year Experience Program will partner to sign new members up. New members will receive the white ONE wristband, information about the ONE Campus Challenge, and information about taking action to end global poverty and AIDS.
Finally, we want to have some fun as well. A DJ was hired to play the songs of artists who support ONE.
Goals: The WSU “ONE More Step in the WRIGHT Direction” will accomplish the following:
Goal 1 - Coordinate with Ohio ONE schools to promote awareness of ONE though a “Walk across Ohio to End Global Poverty and AIDS”
- Objective A: WSU ONE will invite at least 4 schools to participate in ONE Walk during the weekend of March 26-29
- Objective B: WSU ONE will host a ONE Walk on campus on March 29th
Goal 2 – Increase knowledge about global poverty
- Objective A: WSU ONE will sign up at least 100 new ONE members
- Objective B: WSU ONE will post sign at 10 signs/facts about global hunger near the free food tables at the event
- Objective C: WSU ONE will post sign 10 signs/facts about walking for daily survival around the walking course
- Objective D: WSU ONE will premiere ONE video created by ONE leaders.
Goal 3 – Advocate for a reduction in global hunger
Objective A: WSU ONE will host a letter writing campaign to send 50 letters about S. 384, the Lugar-Casey Global Food Security Act
Events: In the end, we were able to acqure declarations from both the Mayor of Beavercreek and the Mayor of Fairborn as well as a signed declaration from the Mayor of the city of Dayton. The weather was terrible so our outdoor picnic turned into an indoor pizza party. We displayed our signs and educated attendees about the Lugar-Casey Global Food Security Act. We were able to sign up 35 new members and we will be able to mail 41 letters to Senator Voinovich regarding the issues. As the weather improved we were able to gather about 20 people to walk 1 mile around the perimeter of our residential community.
John Mac of Franciscan University got the ball rolling on his campus to walk as well. John was able to gather 10 people to each walk a mile as well. Arin Bentley at Wilmington College was able to have letter written as well. We are still waiting on the summary of both events.
Although we ran into many road blocks including the weather, we were able to achieve a fairly large impact.
Impact: As previously stated, we were able to sign up 35 new members we educated about 50 on the Lugar-Casey Global Food Security Act. This event took place at the end of our Spring Break so gathering people was somewhat difficult but I believe with the impact of having declarations from three surrounding community Mayors, we continued to spread the word this evening. We walked, we wrote, and we learned about the importance of education and civic duty. This year with ONE has had an incredible impact on Wright State’s campus and will continue to do so.
Links to Press Coverage: A scanned picture is attached. Our ONE Campus Challenge had a half page article in the Dayton Daily News appearing the day of our event (March 29, 2009) so it will be unavailable online until March 30, 2009).
Photo/Video Links:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/wrightstate/?saved=1
