Maryland

Maryland resident Molly Corbett shares why being a ONE Member is important to her and some recent advocacy efforts she and her husband engaged in with regard to Haiti.

I have stayed involved with ONE because I believe in ONE’s mission to eradicate extreme poverty. As a mother I am moved to act not only for my own children but for children throughout the world.

When I heard about the earthquake in Haiti all I could think was, “how much can one country endure?” Before the quake Haiti was the poorest country in the western hemisphere, only 1/3 of the country had clean drinking water and they have been plagued by government corruption for decades. For two days all I could do was watch the news in disbelief. On Thursday, a friend called and said – “so what are we going to do for Haiti?” I knew that there were people just like me – waiting to do something, something more than texting to donate $10.

The next morning I was dropping my kids off at school and I was listening to NPR report from Haiti. People were singing spiritual songs and being thankful for surviving the quake. Then I heard the Haitian motto: Strength in Unity. I thought we need to celebrate the lives of all the Haitians and show our unity with them.

My husband manages an Irish pub so I called him and suggested we have a fundraiser at the pub for Haiti. He jumped on the phone and started calling bands and other businesses for their support. Before we knew it we had 5 bands and loads of raffle prizes. The local radio station donated advertisement time and created it for us. The support was amazing!

It turned out to be an amazing event. Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley came by to show his support and even got up on stage to sing a few Irish tunes. We had hoped that at least 300 people would come, but we had over 500! We raised $8,720 for Haiti. We also made sure to have ONE’s petition handy asking US Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner to secure the immediate cancellation of Haiti’s $1 billion debt and ensure that any emergency earthquake assistance is provided in the form of grants, not debt-incurring loans. We were proud to join the other 200,000 ONE Members who signed the petition!

Afterward we had people calling and emailing to say how much they enjoyed the event, not because of the music, but because of the sense of community it had created in helping Haiti. We were living the Haitian motto!

I have seen what grassroots advocacy can do on a local level and feel excited about what ONE is doing on a global ONE!

As we move into October, the push we started in August for ONE members to meet with their Members of Congress is still going strong. ONE Members across the country had over 70 meetings with district staffers from both the House of Representatives and the Senate! These meetings provided an amazing opportunity to let our elected leaders know that Americans really do care about the fight against extreme poverty and preventable diseases. However, these meetings were just the beginning when it comes to building relationships between ONE members and their Members of Congress. We hope these meetings mark the beginning of a long-term dialogue in our ongoing fight for the world’s poorest people.

Below are a few more of the meetings that recently happened, and continue to follow the ONE Blog to check out all the future meetings and activities of ONE members taking action in towns and cities across America.

Visit with Senator Chambliss’s office in Atlanta, GA

On September 15th Jessica Given had the pleasure of representing 40,000 ONE members in Atlanta when she met with staffer Steven Meeks in Senator Saxby Chambliss’ office. Specifically, the meeting was to discuss the urgency of the issue of Climate Change and to ask Senator Chambliss to support 5% of any revenue produced from future climate legislation to directly address this issue as the poorest people of the world would suffer the most while contributing the least to the problem of global warming. The meeting went well and Mr. Meeks assured Jessica that he would make sure to pass along the information and our request would be heard.

Visit with Senator Mikulski’s office in Fells Point, MD

On Thursday September 17, 2009 Deidree Bennet and six ONE members met with staff in Senator Mikulski’s Fells Point office where they asked that the Senator sign on to co-sponsor S.1524 Foreign Assistance Revitalization and Accountability Act of 2009. They were also able to talk about all the great activities that over 36,000 MD ONE members have helped with this year and discuss the Senator’s constituents want to take action in the fight against extreme poverty. The staffer’s also let us know that there is new email option on the Senator’s website and encouraged ONE member to let the Senator know their views through the website, so if you’re from Maryland shot them an email. It only takes a few minutes but it is important to let our leaders know we care about these issues.

Visit with Senator Crapo’s office in Boise, ID

On September 29, Matt Miller led a group of Boise ONE members to meet with Senator Crapo’s regional director, Bryan Ricker. Through the meeting they were able to discuss ONE’s mission as well as the need to remember the world’s poorest people in any upcoming climate legislation, the Water for the World Act and the Foreign Assistance Revitalization and Accountability Act of 2009. The volunteers were also able to discuss PEPFAR and how such life saving bills have direct ties to our national security interests in addition to helping those in need.

Mr. Ricker was interested to hear that ONE is over 5,000 strong in Idaho and growing. The meeting went very well and he was kind enough to meet with us for 45 minutes and assured them that all of the issues that were discussed would be brought to the Senator.

Visit with Senators Webb and Warner’s offices in Roanoke, VA

Before Allison Martin headed back to school for the fall she spent her last few days of summer advocating on behalf of the world’s poor! She coordinated a great group of ONE members in Roanoke, VA to introduce ONE and discuss global poverty issues at Senator Warner and Senator Webb’s local district offices. The volunteers were excited to represent over 46,000 ONE members across the state who come from all walks of life, faith communities, and political backgrounds to fight extreme poverty and preventable disease as one.

Jim and Letty Carpenter and I met with Julianna Albowicz, a member of Senator Mikulski’s staff, yesterday at the senator’s Hagerstown, Maryland office. It was an excellent meeting and the information was carefully recorded by Ms. Albowicz to be reported to the senator. We thanked Senator Mikulski for her support of PEPFAR and asked for her continued leadership in the fight against extreme poverty.

We discussed ONE’s campaigns to meet the climate challenge and improve access to clean water and sanitation. As Maryland ONE members, we were excited for this opportunity to advocate for the poor of our world. Sign up to meet with your senator during the August recess!

-Marv Tollefson, Middletown, Maryland

Maryland ONE members Olu, Sara Friar, and I had a great discussion with our state’s senior senator’s staff in Washington, D.C. yesterday. We touched on a variety of issues affecting the world’s poorest people including child and maternal health, clean water and sanitation, foreign assistance reform, and climate change. Legislative Assistant Frank Cristinzio said that Senator Mikulski “appreciates the interconnectedness of all of these issues,” and has supported life-saving legislation, such as PEPFAR, to fight extreme poverty and preventable disease in the developing world.

He also said that Senator Mikulski is supportive of efforts to restructure US foreign assistance and added that it is in our national security interest to elevate development. Mr. Cristinzio was impressed to learn that we represented over 36,000 ONE members in Maryland who care deeply about the issues that we discussed. He thanked us for letting our voices be heard and encouraged us and other ONE members to stay in touch. We look forward to hearing more about Senator Mikulski’s efforts to fight global poverty in the 111th Congress.

-Deidree Bennett, MD ONE Member

Britain and France will today announce a joint initiative to help send 16 million African children to school in the next two years, in partnership with international football authorities.

The Guardian: Plan to put 16m African children into school

At the East African Health and Scientific Conference in Kenya on Wednesday, experts testified that constraints in the health sector are exacerbating health problems in rural communities. Some blamed conditions imposed by the International Monetary Fund in the early 1990s.

Daily Nation: Shortage of health staff hits East African states

An editorial by Michael Steele, former lieutenant governor of Maryland, appeared in today’s Washington Times. The piece praises President Bush’s work in Africa, noting that this story hasn’t made headlines in the United States but is making headlines around the world.

Washington Times: Bush’s Africa legacy

-Chandler Smith