Wednesday, January 10, 2007


The ONE Campaign, of which the Episcopal Church is a partner, is putting out an urgent call for everyone to call or email their senators and representatives TODAY to co-sign bi-partisan letters to protect nearly a billion dollars in critical funding to fight extreme poverty and AIDS -- most of which would be taken from the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria (the most effective multilateral organization addressing these diseases).

You can do this by calling 1-800-786-2663 and using the talking points below. You can also email directly from the ONE Campaign site.

The Episcopal Church embraced the ONE Campaign in resolution D022 last summer and called on the U.S. government to continue to make a fair-share contribution to the Global Fund in D054 in 2003. Some other notes about the Global Fund:

*The Global Fund (a multilateral initiative) is working in 130 countries – expanding prevention as well as treatment. (Compare this with the president's bilateral initiative - PEPFAR - which is doing good work but in only 15 countries)

*The Global Fund provides 3/4 of all global HIV spending, 2/3 of TB spending, 1/2 of malaria spending.

*The Global Fund has put 400,000 people on lifesaving treatment

*The Global Fund has treated one million people for TB

Here you can find more information on the Global Fund, more info on Global AIDS and info about what ERD is doing about Global AIDS.

Now, here are all the details from ONE Campaign buddy Kim Smith:

Right now $1 billion in funding to fight poverty has been eliminated from the United States budget. Congress is set to pass a year long Budget Continuing Resolution which will keep government funding at 2006 levels through 2007. This means that almost a billion dollars to fund the fight against AIDS and extreme poverty could be lost. Please call your Senators and congressperson now to ask that they support funding that fight against Global AIDS. Urge your leaders to fully fund the fight against global AIDS and extreme poverty.

Call 1-800-786-2663 today and ask your two senators and congressman to support fully funding the fight against global AIDS and extreme poverty.

It is not too late, if we work together as ONE we can make a difference. Currently, there is a bipartisan and bicameral effort to support life saving funding. Senators Richard Durbin and Sam Brownback and Representatives Barbara Lee and Christopher Shays are circulating “Dear Colleague” letters to protect additional funding allocated to fight global AIDS, TB, and Malaria in 2007. Urge your congressional leaders to sign onto this “Dear Colleague” letter today!

Make the difference and call your members of congress today: call 1-800-786-2663 today to be connected to your senators and Representative. Remember to tell them:

*I am a constituent of YOUR TOWN in YOUR STATE.

* You're calling with the ONE campaign- an effort started by Americans to unite as ONE voice to fight extreme poverty and global HIV/AIDS.

* You're calling to ask your Members of Congress to sign on to the Senate’s Durbin-Brownback and House’s Lee-Shays “Dear Colleague” letter to protect $1 billion in life-saving funding to fight extreme poverty, AIDS, TB, and Malaria.

Thank you for joining ONE in taking action to fight global AIDS and extreme poverty. Your voice will make a difference!

Other information you can share:
* Please also tell them it is imperative that this funding be additional to other poverty fighting assistance.
* Make sure to emphasize the urgency of this issue. Those living in extreme poverty can not wait a year for assistance, they need the help now.
* Without this additional funding as many as 350,000 people with HIV/AIDS will not receive life-sustaining treatment. Nearly 1 million anti-malarial bednets will not be distributed, and 120,000 people will not receive treatment for tuberculosis.

Kimberly Smith
ONE Regional Field Organizer
kim@one.org
502-475-5564

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Mike at 1/10/2007 12:21:00 PM