ONE and the Campus Challenge

Hey SIDers,
This year SID has decided to become involved in the ONE Campus Challenge (OCC) so I thought I'd give our readers a little intro on ONE.

What is ONE?
ONE is a nonpartisan advocacy organization with the goal to make poverty history (sounds like something SID would be into, right?).  With the help of its 2 million members worldwide, ONE is focused on combating extreme poverty and preventable diseases, particularly in Africa.   Members often work to put pressure on their governments through signing petitions, making phone calls and writing letters to their governmental representatives.  ONE is also heavily involved in raising awareness of global issues related to poverty--much like SID aims to do with our annual Hunger Banquet. 


So what's this about a challenge?
In 2007 ONE launched the ONE Campus Challenge, described by ONE as being "a friendly, intercollegiate competition designed to mobilize students around global issues."  A major branch of their advocacy efforts, the OCC awards points to campuses throughout the nation for raising awareness (example: 50 points for a facebook status about ONE, 50 points if you deck your pet out in ONE gear, 500 points for signing a ONE petition, etc).  Prizes are award to campuses that do exceptionally well in the competition.  For example, at the end of the year the five universities with the most points each get to send a student researcher to Africa.

How can I get involved with BYU's OCC efforts?
Step 1.  Join our campus team!   
Step 2.  Get busy!  Check out the different ways you can earn BYU points and then get on with it!  Sign the petition asking President Obama to pledge $6 billion to the Global Fund, an effort to ensure that no child dies of malaria and that no baby is born with HIV by 2015.  Check out the ONE blog and read up about what's been going on in development lately and then post about it.
Step 3.  Keep coming to SID and listen for more from our most honorable club presidents and our new ONE Campus Challenge Leader, Lesa Young.

Feel free to post any questions you might have!

Much love,
Ama (Rachel Morrison)