Washington D.C. – Hawaii ONE member Mary-Louise Dunigan travelled all the way to Sen. Daniel Inouye’s Washington, D.C. office Thursday to ask him to support critical programs that provide people with necessary tools to lift themselves out of extreme poverty. On behalf of almost 600 fellow Hawaii ONE members, Dunigan, a resident of Mililani, delivered a petition asking Senator Inouye to use his authority as Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee to fully fund the President’s budget for the struggle against global poverty.

As Chairman of this committee, Sen. Inouye will decide on funding levels for the State and Foreign Operations budget. This budget funds almost all programs that target extreme, global poverty, including those that enable access to life-saving medicines for preventable diseases like HIV/AIDS, provide children with an education, combat malaria and build critical infrastructure.

“As a Kamaaina, it’s both my privilege and my duty to ask the Senator to use all of the tools in his possession to make sure that the U.S. does not pass up on this opportunity to help others,” said Dunigan, who took time from a personal trip to New Jersey in order to visit Sen. Inouye’s office in Washington. “Sen. Inouye must take the lead to make sure America keeps its promise in the spirit of Aloha to work with the world’s most vulnerable people to end poverty and disease,”

“Extreme poverty is severe and unforgiving. There aren’t second chances. I’m here in Washington to ask Sen. Inouye to use his influence to make sure that America is investing in smart programs that will ultimately make the world a better place,” Dunigan continued.

ONE members in Hawaii asked the Senator to support “a balanced foreign policy that invests in global good will, economic opportunity and national security.” You can view the full petition here. These Hawaii natives are members of the anti-poverty advocacy organization called ONE (www.one.org).

ONE members, more than 7,300 in Hawaii and 2 million in the United States, work in their local communities to raise awareness of global poverty and treatable, preventable disease and help build the political will to address these challenges. ONE achieves change through advocacy and public mobilization, urging global leaders to adopt smart policies and invest in tested, proven solutions that save lives and combat extreme poverty.

The strength of ONE extends to all levels of government, whether it be volunteers in Iowa and New Hampshire attending campaign rallies, or municipal governments in St. Louis and Miami proclaiming their support for America’s global health efforts. ONE will continue to build the political will at all levels of government and across all partisan lines to ensure that fighting poverty and saving lives remains a priority for the United States.

Thanks to this support-as well as countless organizations and leaders-America’s lifesaving global efforts have delivered historic results in the last several years. America’s commitment has contributed to putting nearly 4 million people living with HIV/AIDS around the world on lifesaving medicines, up from just 50,000 people in 2002. Millions more are surviving malaria because of cost-effective investments in simple bed nets and medicines. In Rwanda and Ethiopia, for example, malaria cases and deaths were cut in half in two years. And some 34 million more children have been given the chance to go to school for the first time in recent years.