Why ONE?

This past summer I spent a good portion of my time planning an awareness concert for the ONE Campaign. A lot of you are probably asking "what is the ONE Campaign?" I know I did when I first got involved with it. In 2000 the US made a millenium goal to raise the amount of aid we are giving to developing countries like those in Africa. They hope to have met this goal by 2015, our time is nearly half gone, and still people don't even know about this Campaign. How is the public suppose to give their senators and representatives feedback on how to vote if the public knows nothing about it? So what can you do? You're just a high school student, or college student right? So what can you do? You have a lot more power than you may think. You may not be able to vote for our next president yet, but you can write a letter or call your congressmen and tell them what you think. You can learn more about an issue that you find important and tell other people about it. You can do what I did and get involved in a community wide event to raise awareness for an issue! Just because you are only in high school or college doesn't mean that you can't make a difference!

Did you know that... 

ONE dollar: the amount of money that over 300 million people in Sub-Saharan Africa (or almost half the population) lives on per day and by 2015 is expected to have increased to 400 million.

ONE billion: the number of people that do not have access to clean water.

ONE child: the number of children that die every three seconds due to preventable causes.

ONE percent: the amount of the US budget that will (hopefully) got to developing countries (particularly those in Africa)

ONE person: the number of people it takes to make a difference in the world - are you that ONE?

So why ONE?
The US currently directs less than half of one percent (0.39%) of the Federal Budget towards poverty-focused development assistance. By getting the US to give a full 1% of the budget ($25 billion - yes I know that's a lot) towards meeting basic needs in the world we can make a difference. Just think, 1% of the US budget can help prevent 10 million children from becoming AIDS orphans; get 104 million children into grade school; provide water to almost 900 million people around the globe; save almost 6.5 million children under the age of 5 from dying of diseases that could be prevented with low-cost measures like vaccinations or a well for clean water; build a better, safer world for all. By increasing the funding to one percent we can make a difference in the lives of many!