Move over Washington University! You may have had vice presidential candidates Sarah Palin and Joe Biden in St. Louis for the debate, but ONE Webster had the ONE Campaign Tour Bus! Sporting a giant ONE logo and blasting great music, the ONE Campaign tour bus attracted students as we tabled throughout the day to promote our vice presidential debate watch party that evening.

Not only did we have the bus, but former Missouri Governor Bob Holden put on a pre-debate analysis with a panel of experts from universities across St. Louis. We packed Webster’s Sunnen Lounge with 170 people. After the chairs ran out, people piled in around the sides and back.

I figured the current economic crisis would dominate the debate, but I wanted [ONE to be there to] make sure everyone remembered those who have been living in an economic crisis their entire lives.

Thank you to all of the ONE Webster volunteers and our co-sponsors: Holden Public Policy Forum, Webster Rock the Vote, College Republicans and College Democrats.

-Nick Stevens, ONE Webster President and OCC COA

Now that we’re all back on campus, a lot of us have steered away from that healthy summer lifestyle and plunged into the unhealthy world of junk-food. And, even though our campuses are usually in no shortage of pizza, candy, and chips, Sacred Heart University students pulled together to fight poverty even as we’re putting on some extra pounds.

Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream has teamed up with ONE to create the Cheesecake Brownie flavor, which after a little bit of creative partnering on Sacred Heart’s part, is now available at all of our dining halls for purchase by the pint! Each container has lots of great information about the ONE Campaign on it and is filled with some fantastic ice cream!

Steve, our Official Ben & Jerry’s ONE Model

ONE Webster did beat us to the punch by writing a post about it last year, which is what sparked our interest, and also helped us turn the ice cream into instant advertising 24/7! We’d encourage all campuses to try and get this great little snack on their campuses. Since SHU’s dining service already carries Ben and Jerry’s other flavors, it was an easy partnership, but get out there and ask! For more information on the flavor, visit http://www.one.org/benjerry/.

-Mike Fazzino, Sacred Heart University

Check out the post below from Brian Spendley, President of Syracuse University/SUNF-ESF Habitat for Humanity. Remember you can earn 2,500 points for coordinating with your local Habitat campus chapter or community affiliate on a build day, awareness-raising or advocacy event in honor of World Habitat Day!-Margaret McDonnell

In the spirit of World Habitat Day, on Monday, October 6th, my Habitat for Humanity campus chapter, Syracuse University/SUNY-ESF Habitat for Humanity, will be advocating for affordable housing through various events. These events include educating community and campus members on poverty in our area and throughout the world; hosting a photo exhibit documenting the destruction in the wake of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita as well as the hopeful road to recovery through the eyes of Habitat volunteers and storm survivors; holding a press conference featuring speakers focused on the dynamics of poverty housing in Syracuse, NY; and finally bringing to light the problem of homelessness through an overnight sleep out.

But what I am most excited about is the advocacy rally following the press conference in the afternoon. Students and community members will sign petitions and stand up in need of adequate housing in the U.S. and throughout the world. There is still time for your campus to get energized and involved in World Habitat Day!

Check out the list below for ways that your campus can earn 1,600 points for planning a build day, awareness-raising or advocacy event with your local Habitat campus chapter or community affiliate!

• Partner with Habitat by building, educating, or advocating on World Habitat Day.
• Plug into events in your area .
• Plan your own event.
• Learn about secure tenure.
• Read about the history of World Habitat Day and other events taking place around the world.
• Even though billions worldwide face tremendous odds when it comes to housing, our next President can do something to greatly improve those odds. Join Habitat for Humanity in urging Senators Obama and McCain to, as President, make the U.S. a world leader in the battle for better housing for all.
• Email us at worldhabitatday@habitat.org with your questions, comments or suggestions.

Join me and hundreds others around the world on October 6th 2008, as we raise our voices and take a stand with everyone in need of adequate housing in cities, towns and rural communities in the U.S. and around the world.

-Brian Spendley, President of Syracuse University/SUNF-ESF Habitat for Humanity

Students work on the steel-frame construction of a Habitat house in Belen, New Mexico.
Photograph by Kim MacDonald

This weekend, thousands of college students from throughout the state of Pennsylvania walked Benjamin Franklin Parkway in the heart of Center City to get college info, learn about local non-profits, and buy from vendors at Campus Philly College Day. Many sought out the ONE table when they saw others walking around with the white wrist bands.

Lots of students took ONE posters to hang in their new dorm rooms. The majority of those who signed the declaration to lend their voices to the campaign excitedly offered to volunteer for ONE in the future!

-Lauren Conn, PA ONE Field Organizer

OCCers, your Challenge this week: design your own ONE Campus Shirt.

Submit your entries by midnight on Sunday. Winner gets 10,000 points.  This is the second time we’ve done this challenge and we got some pretty clever/aesthetically pleasing submissions last year. Here’s to hoping for more of the same. Some helpful hints on what we, the judging panel, are looking for:

-Put a large, clear ONE logo somewhere on the shirt. Obviously the point of this Weekly Challenge is to develop a ONE Campus Challenge shirt, so we should know what the shirt is for. Feel free to reference this year’s theme, too!

-Make sure that the writing is visible. The message of a shirt is much more accessible if someone walking past doesn’t need to squint to read it.

-Avoid too much clutter. If you have only three seconds to display your shirt to someone walking past, you want to make sure they understand it!

-Use your U. Incorporate your school’s flair on your design. Minimum 16 pieces…just kidding.

-DON’T use a school logo without appropriate permission. We at ONE encourage lawful t-shirts so let’s try to avoid the copyright issues.

-DON’T use profanity. No one likes an angry garment.

-DON’T endorse a candidate or political party. We’re nonpartisan here and try to give love to both sides of the aisle, or none at all.

We’re only allowing one submission per OCC member, but schools can submit as many designs as desired to increase their probability. Submit your designs here.

FYI - If you’ve already submitted a T-shirt design, you may submit it again for challenge winner consideration, but you will not get the additional 150 “ONE your shirt” action points for any previously-submitted design. And while the limit is one design per member, if you have submitted a design before this week, you may submit a different one for this challenge and get the points as well as challenge winner consideration.

Good luck! 

-Maisie Pigeon

The ONE Campus Challenge’s first annual Scavenger Hunt goes to Curry College! ONE-Curry completed FORTY different actions from our list, so in addition to getting the point values for each action completed, they will also receive 10,000 more points for the Weekly Challenge as well as our Weekly Challenge Winner Prize Pack, complete with our new OCC t-shirts, bands, and of course, a Flip Video Camera for easy documentation of ONE-Curry events for the rest of the year.

Curry checked off ONE-ing their mascot, signing ONE petitions, setting up tables on-campus to recruit new ONE members, and even getting local media attention for their efforts, as well as a whopping 36 additional actions.

Want to hang with the ranks of UofM-Ann Arbor and Curry, our Weekly Challenge Winners thus far? Keep checking back on the blog for details about ths week’s challenge. We’ll be rewarding your artistic side.

-Maisie Pigeon

This week’s Photo of the Week Competition goes to the University of Florida. This picture was taken following their first ONE-UF meeting of the year. (Note the impressive attendance rate!)

You can bank on the Gators not taking this year’s OCC sitting down. They’ve also been known to incorporate the “Gator Chomp” (to take a bite out of poverty?) into their repertoire.

Speaking of reptiles…

Meet Henry, Sacred Heart’s ONE Leopard Gecko. We couldn’t NOT give this picture props.

-Maisie Pigeon

The ONE Campus Challenge is in full swing, and you know what that means!

…But in case you don’t, we’ll give you a hint: Erin and Weldon trapped in a closet!

Still can’t figure it out? Maybe this will shed some light:

To figure out what’s in the closet, check out last year’s OCC TV episodes here.

Stay tuned for more OCC TV!

-Emily Stivers

With the United Nations Special Summit on the Millennium Development Goals going on this week, it may not be a surprise to say a group of world leaders were gathered in New York City. Yet, they were miles from the UN headquarters. In fact, these heads of state gathered at The Earth Institute at Columbia University for a forum on The Children of Latin America: A Future Without Poverty.

Those in attendance from the Latin American nations were Felipe de Jesús Calderón Hinojosa, President, United Mexican States, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, President, Argentine Republic, Fernando Armindo Lugo Méndez, President, Republic of Paraguay, Elias Antonio Saca González, President, Republic of El Salvador, and Martín Erasto Torrijos Espino, President, Republic of Panama.

At that, Bono isn’t the only rock-star philanthropist taking aim at eliminating poverty. Shakira and Alejandro Sanz graced the floor with their presence along with Jeffrey Sachs, bestselling author and director of the Earth Institute, and activists from the ALAS and Inter-American Development Bank.

So naturally, when student leaders at Sacred Heart University, Emerson College, and Seton Hall University found out about it, we knew we had to be there to represent ONE. After convincing our professors to let us skip class, we traveled from Connecticut, Massachusetts, and New Jersey with ONE bracelets and shirts proudly displayed.

While we loved seeing Shakira and Jeff Sachs, the truly meaningful words spoken at the forum were those of the world leaders. From stating how they themselves focus on the MDG’s to more personal stories, such as the state of emergency in Paraguay to the sacrifice of “beautiful buildings to have happier citizens”, much was shared, and likewise much was learned. Truly, other world leaders aren’t turning a deaf ear to these problems.

Mr. Sachs joked between Shakira’s monologue that “Like Wyclef Jean said, she makes a man want to speak Spanish.” Well, even if you don’t speak Spanish, you can watch a bilingual archived webcast of the thrilling forum available online!

The ONE bus rolled onto the campus of George Washington University on a crisp morning last Thursday, September 18th. With the bus parked on a highly trafficked street between GW dormitories and the Lerner Auditorium, a day of recruiting for the ONE Campaign began!

The GW ONE campus chapter was out in full force, supplying energetic volunteers and free pizza to entice passersby to step up to the table. Students handed out wristbands, water bottles, and leaflets encouraging people to join ONE in fighting to make global poverty a top priority in the upcoming election. From GW students and faculty, to campus police and local coffee vendors, the response was huge. Nearly 600 people signed the ONE Declaration and put on a white wristband for the first time!

-Paige Engebretson, ONE Intern