Reflection on G8

Dear ONE Member:


My name is Shayne Moore. I am a stay-at-home mom and a ONE member from Wheaton, Illinois, and I've been taking in all the sights and sounds of St. Petersburg, Russia at the G8 Summit.

On Saturday, I attended a press conference with President Bush and Russian President Putin. They discussed important global concerns, including questions on security, energy policy, and nuclear arms. Having never been in the same room with a U.S. President, I was quite taken with it all. But with so much talk of war and conflict, I keep having this nagging thought in the back of my head: Extreme poverty kills thousands of people every single day and will continue to take innocent lives... will the G8 leaders keep the promises made last year or will they break their word?

Last year, President Bush pledged on behalf of America that we assist the world's poorest nations. Congress must now honor our pledge by writing the check to fund life-saving programs.

Join me in urging Congress to keep America's promises to the world's poorest nations just one year ago.


I was lucky enough to attend the G8 Summit last year as a ONE delegate when G8 leaders promised $50 billion more in effective development assistance per year by 2010. This critical funding means real help for real people, to care for AIDS orphans, give basic education to all children by 2015, and much more. We've made some important progress on canceling debts for 19 countries, but there are many more on the list. In the last year, we accomplished a great deal, but we’ve only scratched the surface.

President Bush requested a $3 billion increase in effective international assistance so that America can keep our promises on track. Currently, Congress is going only about a third of the way to help Africa and the world's poorest nations. Both the House of Representatives and Senate cut around $2 billion from the President's request, putting America's G8 pledges in jeopardy.

I'm just one, ordinary person who in this moment is having an extraordinary experience. That is the power of ONE. As one person I'm just sitting in a room full of people with my own questions. Together, we're loud and those same questions become points on the agendas of world leaders.

Join me in urging Congress to keep America's promises to the world's poorest nations just one year ago.

Thank you,

Shayne Moore, ONE Member

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