We are thrilled that Vice President Joe Biden mentioned our famine PSA, “The F Word,” and our declaration that “famine is the real obscenity” in his remarks honoring Bill Gates and Howard Buffett at the World Food Program USA Leadership Award Ceremony this week. Read what he said here, or watch the video below:
“A tragedy like that is literally a stain on the conscience of the world. Now there’s an ad by the ONE Campaign and it says famine is obscene. Famine is obscene. And I know that for those of you who have seen the suffering up close, I know it haunts you as well. It haunts all of us. But it stiffens our resolve to do something about it.”
Today, I got this quick note from ONE member Rochelle Gibbs:
“Yesterday I had the moment of a lifetime to meet Vice President Biden during a campaign rally at Macalester College in St. Paul, MN and advocate for ONE and the world’s poorest people. I showed up extra early in my ONE shirt and managed to get up front.
After the rally, I had a chance to speak with the Vice President, and during our brief conversation he told me that he is a huge fan of ONE. I thanked him for his support in the fight against extreme poverty and preventable diseases in developing countries.
At a time when so many of us – including myself – are living in tough times, I am thankful that our elected leaders continue to recognize that for millions of people who are living in developing countries, the definition of “tough times” is a matter of life versus death. As we continue to fight to improve our own situations, let’s continue our fight for the world’s most vulnerable people too and create a better and safer world for all!”
Thank you, Rochelle, for all you do, and all you do to inspire us! Be sure to watch our video with Rochelle on YouTube.
ONE is hitting the campaign trail to find out where candidates stand on extreme poverty. Stay tuned for more updates like this one from our field team and organizers on the road.
Five ONE members and I attended a rally for Ohio Governor Ted Strickland who was joined by special guest Vice President Joe Biden at the University of Akron yesterday. While waiting for the speakers to arrive, we sparked up a conversation with a couple University of Akron students who were so intrigued by us that they threw on our ONE shirts and wristbands!
Vice President Biden immediately put on the ONE band, grabbed my camera from my hand, and gave it to a nearby secret service agent so we could take a picture with him! He also took the time to shake the hands of our other volunteers further down the line.
Want to be a part of exciting opportunities like this? Be sure to join us on Facebook and Twitter for frequent updates.
In case you missed it, Vice President Joe Biden will be making a trip to Africa the week of June 7th. Presumably the White House will be releasing more details on this in the next couple weeks.
Vice President Joe Biden will travel to Egypt, Kenya, and South Africa during the week of June 7, the White House announced Thursday.
Among other things, Biden will meet with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak “to discuss a full range of bilateral and regional issues,” according to a White House statement. The vice president will also represent the United States during the opening ceremonies of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.
Biden will be joined by his wife during the trip, the statement noted.
South Florida ONE volunteers were hot on the campaign trail yesterday, representing ONE at back-to-back rallies for Senator John McCain and Senator Barack Obama.
In the morning we went to the Everglades Lumberyard in Miami to hear Senator McCain speak. He was accompanied by fellow Republicans Governor Charlie Crist, Representatives Mario Diaz-Balart and Lincoln Diaz-Balart and Florida’s former Governor and current ONE Vote ’08 Co-Chair, Jeb Bush.
Just a few hours later Senators Obama and Biden held a campaign rally at the Bank Atlantic Center in Fort Lauderdale. Just when we thought we were not going to be able to get in, the security guards let us through and we found great seats just behind the stage.
With the election right around the corner, ONE volunteers are working harder than ever to maintain their strong presence on the campaign trail in Florida and to show the candidates that regardless of party affiliation, fighting global disease and extreme poverty must be a priority in the next administration.
We had a busy day in Las Vegas on Friday. First, former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright was in town to hold a foreign policy discussion at UNLV. I was able to attend with a few ONE volunteers and students.
During the discussion Secretary Albright talked about the need to reevaluate the way we approach our foreign policy including towards the continent of Africa. She also mentioned the need to do more to eradicate disease and genocide.
As a follow up I was able to ask her if she thought fighting poverty and disease was essential to our national security. Here was her response:
Also on Friday, Joe Biden held a rally in Henderson, NV. We had about a dozen ONE members there to remind the Senator about his commitment to fight AIDS in Africa.
Sen. Joe Biden was in New Hampshire yesterday to campaign in Dover and Manchester. ONE’s Marine, Michael Castaldo made it out of bed early for the world’s poorest people and caught up with Sen. Biden at the Dover event. He was able to briefly speak with Sen. Biden, who was one of the original co-sponsors of the new global AIDS, TB, and Malaria bill- called PEPFAR- that President Bush signed a few months ago. Michael even snapped a quick photo with him on the way out.
In Manchester, I caught up with Sen. Biden with some ONE members too. After his speech, we made a quick dash to the rope line and we were able to briefly thank him and celebrate the new PEPFAR bill. We also encouraged him to accelerate efforts to save lives around the world by providing full funding for the Millennium Challenge Corporation – a new and more efficient way of creating partnerships in development between the US and desperately poor nations.
Our efforts to save lives in highly impoverished countries reflect the best of American values and traditions. But it is also a very wise effort to help make more friends and allies around the world and prevent further instability and despair.
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.
