Mayor, Local Volunteers Make Pembroke Pines an Official ‘ONE City’

Pembroke Pines, Fla.-Local volunteers with the global grassroots, anti-global poverty organization ONE today received a signed proclamation from Mayor Frank Ortis declaring Pembroke Pines an official ‘ONE City.’

By being declared a ONE City, Pembroke Pines joins ONE and more than 130 cities across the nation in helping raise awareness about extreme global poverty and the simple, effective solutions that can save the lives of millions of people from diseases like HIV/AIDS and malaria around the world.

ONE members and local residents Danielle DePas and Rafael Batista accepted the proclamation.

DePas is an English Teacher at the Pines Charter High School and also advises the school’s ONE club, which has over 200 members including both faculty and staff. DePas helps coordinate local advocacy and educational activities around ONE’s issues in Pembroke Pines. She is also very active in the ‘Miami ONE’ group.

“Students, faculty and neighbors in Pembroke Pines are helping raise awareness of those living in extreme poverty and struggling against diseases like HIV/AIDS around the world,” said DePas. “We let our leaders know that these are issues we care about and want addressed. I want to thank Mayor Ortis for joining us in this effort and officially making Pembroke Pines a ONE City. It means a lot our group and our students. Lack of clean drinking water, basic medicines and primary education are all factors that contribute to global poverty, and yet all these problems have simple, effective solutions. Together, we have the opportunity to put forth America’s best ideals and make life better for millions of people throughout the world.”

Batista is a student and is also the President of the ONE Club at the school. The ONE club at the Pines Charter High School is extremely active, meeting monthly, holding advocacy activities in the community and also recently hosting the ‘ONE Bus’ on campus.

“We can make a big difference by raising our voices and letting our friends and leaders know the simple, effective ways we all can help,” Batista said. “Today I’m proud to have my hometown join our group in this important effort to address poverty and disease around the world.”

Mayor Ortis issued the proclamation at the Pembroke Pines City Hall.

ONE is a grassroots organization whose millions of members, like Danielle and Rafael, work in their local communities to raise awareness of global poverty and treatable, preventable disease and help build the political will to address the crisis. ONE achieves change through advocacy and public mobilization, pressuring global leaders to adopt smart policies and invest in tested, proven solutions that save lives and combat extreme poverty.

We know that these efforts are already delivering results in cost-effective ways. Thanks to American efforts, more than 2 million Africans living with HIV/AIDS are receiving basic, lifesaving medicines and beating the disease. That number is up from just 50,000 people in 2003. Millions more are surviving malaria because of our investment in simple bed nets and medicines. Tens of millions of children in the world’s poorest and often most dangerous regions have been given the chance to go to school for the first time in recent years, opening the door to productive futures instead of hopeless and desperate ones.