ONE Campaign and ONE Vote '08

Katie Andrews is a Field Organizer, based in Columbus, OH, for the ONE Campaign. I invited her to tell us a bit about the One Campaign and what they're up to.
--Alex

So, you may have seen the ONE white wristbands or ONE shirts in the community but do you know what ONE really is? Well, I am a Field Organizer for the ONE Campaign (www.one.org) and cover the region of Ohio, Michigan, West Virginia, Kansas and Missouri. I am here to give you the gist of what ONE does and how you can help locally if you choose. Basically, ONE's goal is to build a constituency of Americans in the U.S. that are concerned and take action on global issues to ultimately eradicate extreme poverty (people living on less than $1USD/Day) and global disease. The take action part is really the key--we need to make sure that not only are people knowledgeable about global issues such as clean water & sanitation, education, trade justice and global disease but people need to call, write and meet with their legislators to make sure that a real change can take place in U.S. policy to have a positive impact in the world.

A big question that I constantly am asked is, "Does ONE focus on domestic poverty?" so I figured I would just answer this right away for those that are wondering. ONE does not focus on domestic issues. However, we do partner with those that do and we hope that in working together we can be more effective in reducing poverty around the world. I personally believe that we can and should be involved with both domestic and global issues. This doesn't mean that you have to invest all of your time and money into both areas. If you prefer to work at a local food bank to help your community and take a couple minutes on the phone to call your legislator on a global issue, that is wonderful. If you decide that you want to hold educational events on global issues and donate to food or money to your local food bank, that's wonderful, too. The point is you can be involved in both. And both will help to better our world for the future.

How does ONE work? Well, that's the hard part and that's where you can help. ONE provides the educational materials and resources but individuals such as yourself provide the action--holding educational events in your community on ONE's issues & current legislation like the Education for All Act (Senate Bill 1259, House Bill 2092) and the Farm Bill, having ONE tables to inform more people about what ONE does and how they can get involved and we also need people connecting with their legislators on current legislation. There are one groups all over the U.S. and over 2.4 million ONE members.

ONE is now gearing up for the 2008 Presidential elections by launching our new campaign: ONE Vote ’08 (www.onevote08.org). This aspect of the ONE Campaign focuses on making sure that which ever candidate is elected president, we can ensure that the fight against global extreme poverty is a key foreign policy issue. Our members are going out in force to show their presence and ask their questions at every town hall meeting, presidential forum and any other event that the candidates will appear from now until Election Day. If you haven’t seen ONE yet, you will hopefully see us soon.

If you aren't interested in getting actively involved with ONE, I hope that you will at least take away the knowledge that ONE is not about wristbands and t-shirts but taking action to ensure universal primary school education, clean water & child and maternal health around the world, among many other things. If you are interested in getting involved more, just visit www.one.org. Take care and stay active!