Last week, Sen. Johnny Isakson, (R-Ga.), was on Georgia Tech’s campus for the Back-to-School Barbecue, an event hosted by the Georgia Tech Campus Republicans.
Me talking to the senator before his speech.
As a member of the campus ONE chapter, I took the opportunity to talk to the senator about our commitment to the fight against extreme poverty and disease.
I started out by thanking him for signing onto last year’s letter to President Obama, which asked for a strong foreign affairs budget.
He mentioned that he was on the Africa subcommittee and the Foreign Relations committee and understood the need for a robust foreign affairs budget.
I also took the opportunity to discuss the Global Food Security Act, and told him about the Lugar/Casey letter, which urges senators to bring the Act to the floor before the Senate year.
I requested that he sign on to that letter, because the bill would go a long way in combating poverty in African nations. Overall, the senator was very receptive, especially when we started talking about the Global Fund and its benefits.
Before leaving, I thanked him again and let him know that our Atlanta Congressional District Leaders would follow up with more information with his staff this week.
ONE Volunteer Adam Stackhouse attended the Clinton Global Initiative University meeting this weekend at the University of Texas at Austin. CGI U brings together students, university presidents, nongovernmental organizations, and national youth organizations to make commitments to action against global poverty and injustice.
He wore his ONE shirt and even struck up a conversation with Paul Begala who told Adam that he was a big fan of ONE! He put on his white band and posed for a picture to show his ONE (and Longhorn) pride!
It’s time to kick off a new year of the ONE Campus Challenge, and we’re calling all students, alumni and college fans to sign up under your favorite school’s banner on our OCC website.
I’m Maisie Pigeon, ONE’s Student Coordinator, and I’ll be managing this year’s OCC—a good-natured competition between universities to see which school will be the national champion at tackling extreme poverty.
Our quarterback is three-time Super Bowl winner and two-time Super Bowl MVP Tom Brady of the New England Patriots. An active ONE supporter since 2005, Tom visited health clinics, schools and other life-saving projects in Ghana and Uganda in 2007 with ONE. Hear what he has to say about OCC at:
Last year, more than 1,400 colleges and universities competed through seven months of rigorous activism, awareness-raising and action-taking. OCC students signed up over 33,000 ONE members, took 182,000 actions, and convinced campuses, cities and even states to declare their support for ONE. And they engaged candidates including Barack Obama and John McCain on the campaign trail, getting them to pay attention to and talk about global poverty and disease.
In January, the 100 top schools sent representatives to the Power 100 Summit, an exciting three-day conference in Washington, D.C. They heard from leaders of the global anti-poverty movement and influential members of the Democratic and Republican parties, and joined forces through workshops and forums to become smarter, stronger advocates.
This year’s ONE Campus Challenge is going to be even better, but we need you to help your school get started. Sign up here.
My name is Maisie Pigeon and I’m the new ONE Student Coordinator. Right now, I’m working non-stop to make this year’s ONE Campus Challenge a success. The ONE Campus Challenge is a nationwide competition between universities where schools have the opportunity to earn points by taking actions against poverty. (Actions range from signing up your friends and family, to “ONE-ing” your campus mascot, to writing letters to your members of Congress.)
Currently we are working to get everything ready for the OCC 2008/2009-kickoff. The competition between schools last year was pretty steep, in the end Western Kentucky University won out over more than a thousand schools nationwide. This year the competition only looks to intensify. We can’t wait to see what tricks you guys have up your sleeves!
This will be my second year working with OCC, as I was a Regional Outreach Ambassador (aka – ROA) last year. I want to let you know that we’re currently looking to fill positions for this year’s crew of Regional Outreach Ambassadors. ROAs are active student leaders who help college students across the country promote ONE and fight extreme poverty by acting as liaisons between ONE staff and ONE student leaders across the country.
Find more information on becoming a ROA and pick up an application here. And stay tuned to the ONE Blog for more updates on OCC in the coming weeks.
Last night the University of Colorado Student Union passed a proclamation declaring the campus to be a Campus of ONE. The unanimous decision reflects the University’s commitment to being a leader on social justice issues and standing up against extreme poverty and preventable diseases. What’s even more significant is that the committee is determined to be more than a quiet statement of faith, but to make it public with a signing event and active promotion of ONE on campus throughout the next school year.
The sponsor of the bill, Dan Omasta, described the bill as unique because in this election cycle we are constantly hearing about all the things we can’t agree on, it’s nice to talk about what we do share as common values. The passage of this proclamation makes the University of Colorado one of the largest school to become a Campus of ONE.
I’m very proud of my University and look forward to the work we have to do over the summer and next year.
-Matthew McAllister, Colorado ONE member and CU Sophomore
Last week, “UNH for ONE” set up tables at the University of New Hampshire and asked their fellow students to sign letters to NH Senator Judd Gregg, asking him for a robust international affairs budget. They collected over 50 letters that I will deliver to Senator Gregg’s Office later today.
“UNH for ONE” is now phone banking on campus to thank NH Senator Sununu for signing onto the “Smith-Feinstein Amendment” and calling Senator Gregg’s Office to ask that he support the amendment that would restore over 2.6 billion dollars to the international affairs budget.
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More than 200 people signed their support for ONE at OSU’s Involvement Fair yesterday.
Thousands of new and returning students came out in force to learn what groups they could get involved in for this academic year. Beth Kaltenbach, the president of OSU’s chapter of ONE, has also taken on a new project at OSU’s campus: EDUN Live on Campus.
ONE and EDUN Live on Campus partnered together during the event today to raise awareness for extreme poverty. If today was any indication, OSU’s campus will be brimming with ONE activity very soon.
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.
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