Each day this week, we’ll highlight a major accomplishment in the fight against poverty that ONE members helped achieve in 2011. Today, ONE’s OCC coordinator Mike Fazzino discusses our ONE Campus Challenge.
For our fifth year of the ONE Campus Challenge, students around the nation didn’t disappoint. More than 700 colleges participated in the challenge, and its ONE members put their powerful voices to work. Through creative challenges, college students, professors, alumni and friends joined together and urged political leaders to support smart and effective programs that save lives. So what did we accomplish?
What a semester we’ve had! In the past two weeks, ONE Campus students attended our World AIDS Day event in DC, stormed Capitol Hill to lobby their members of Congress to support lifesaving programs, and attended a White House Community Leaders Briefing to boot.
University of Florida winners. From left to right, Nick Vinson, Erica Ngoenha, Kelly Dees, and Bryant Shannon.
Jessica Sardella, president of ONE’s George Washington University chapter, reflects on her experience at ONE and (RED)’s World AIDS Day event last week. This piece was originally published on the ONE Campus Tumblr.
On December 1, World AIDS Day, we’ll be marking a critical point in our fight against HIV/AIDS. Currently, 6.6 million people are receiving treatment (up from just 100,000 in 2002), but we’re a long way from declaring victory. So this year, let’s be a part of the solution. It’s time to spread the word about all the progress we’ve made in the fight against HIV/AIDS — and show how much more needs to get done, too.
What can you do to get involved in Challenge No. 4? Host a World AIDS Day event on your campus or in your community. Plan a movie night with friends. Turn a landmark on campus (RED), or write to your members of Congress and ask them to continue to fund the fight. And stay tuned, because we’ll reveal a big World AIDS Day project of our own next week…
Up for another challenge? The third leg of the ONE Campus Challenge is here, and we’re asking our students to take it to the streets. Programs that fight HIV/AIDS, malaria and chronic hunger could be drastically cut by the Senate this month. Between now and November 18th, meet with your members of Congress and tell them to protect international development programs in US FY2012 Budget. Let your member know that these programs work and are saving lives. Head to the ONE Campus website to get started.
The University of Mississippi won second place with this video
This week, ONE Campus is challenging students to eat on less than $1.50 a day. To read more updates like these, head to ONE Campus’ Tumblr.
Presently, serious cuts to the funding of foreign aid programs within the 150 account, the International Affairs portion of the Federal Budget that encompasses foreign aid, have been proposed by Congress for the 2012 fiscal year. In response, ONE members across the country –- from Nebraska to New Jersey — are getting motivated and participating in the ONE Campus Challenge’s second challenge to stop these devastating cuts to foreign aid.
One University of Florida student answers the question: how does living on less than $1.50 a day relate to the 150 account?
By living under the conditions of extreme poverty, ONE members at the University of Florida are, for a short time, experiencing first-hand the conditions that 1.4 billion around the world face every day, driving the point home that the programs affected by proposed cuts make a tremendous difference in the lives of vulnerable populations in the developing world. Programs like Feed the Future aim to increase food security to prevent future famines like the current crisis in the Horn of Africa.
It definitely feels like fall, a clear indication that our Summer Photo Challenge has come to an end! Over the summer, ONE Campus students took photos all around the world, and we got some pretty amazing results. We had fun sorting through all the incredible submissions, but after much deliberation we picked our top three from students and locales across the globe:
3rd place: Katheryn Winn of Middle Tennessee State University, “Girls in School,” Tanzania
Right now, some of the world's biggest oil companies are fighting to keep some of their deals with foreign governments secret. Let's tell big oil we won't be bullied.
Cuts to poverty-fighting programs won't balance the budget, but they will set back progress on Canada's development priorities and risk jeopardizing existing investments.
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.
