Tuesday, September 25, 2007

A busy weekend...


(RED) volunteer crew!
Originally uploaded by Brande Jackson

The (RED)/ONE teams were out in full force across the country this past weekend!

We met back up with Common, talking to fans at his shows in Minneapolis and Milwaukee. Common’s tour is proving to be a really amazing experience – we talk to countless fans that are really excited to get behind the idea of what (RED) is working to do. Our field team commented that they couldn’t believe how many people they met over the two nights this weekend that had been to or were going to Africa, doing projects with other ngo’s and even on their own. As always, the Common team was super supportive and helpful – we are really excited about the remaining dates of the tour!

Our Dave Matthews Band team was also hard at work, taking on Texas this weekend. We got thousands of fans involved with ONE and (RED) while in Houston and Dallas, working, as always, with a bunch of very cool volunteers to make it happen. We had a super crew join us in Houston, including long time ONE volunteers Tracey, Al and Lisa, as well as new volunteers Kelly, Sarah, Luke, Cindy, Fernando and Katie. The team did great – hitting the ground running, so to speak, after going through their training! The next night in Dallas proved to be even more successful – we had a great location right around the curve of the west concourse. Somehow, all of our volunteers arrived within 5 minutes of each other – always a good sign of how the evening would go! Joining us to help in Dallas was Kelly, a fifth grade teacher, Robert, Elliot, and Eliza, all students, and Melody and Cheryl, long time friends and advocates of the ONE Campaign and (RED). Since all of our volunteers were familiar with the campaign, training was a snap, and we all had a little time to relax before the doors were open to the fans. Once the venue was open, our crew was all business, everyone staying out the entire time without rest, only returning to the booth to get more sign up sheets. The booth was in full swing as well thanks to a great location, and many new people as well as several old friends of the campaign stopped by to show their support. By the end of the night, our high energy crew was getting pretty tired, but this didn't stop them from staying till the very end – all of our volunteers stayed for the full effort! Great crew, super attitude, and just and all around fun team!


ONE/(RED) volunteer crew

We also were getting our inner yogi on with Global Mala in Los Angeles. (RED) took part in this first time event, recruiting lots of new support for our work and spreading the word in a big way how much (RED) had raised for the Global Fund. Attendees were very impressed to learn that (RED) had raised 45 million in our first year of existence – and they were very interested in checking out the (RED) products we had on display so they could continue to contribute! We were joined by a great team of volunteers here as well – Drea, Jenny, Melodie and Maria came from all across LA and Orange Counties to join us, and Thomas even came up all the way from Oceanside, where he lives with his fellow Marine’s, to help out! Sunday was a bit slower, but we still had fun hanging out with Lena, a UCLA student, and Carol and Roquel, hospice workers that joined us for the afternoon.

All things combined, it was a big weekend for (RED) and ONE, as we continued to work to build support across the nation! Watch for updates as the Dave tour comes to California and Common hits the east coast next week!

-Brande













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