ONE, a coalition of student organizations, began a drive called, “Donate a Phone, Save a Life,” for students to give up their old cell phones for aid relief workers in Kenya.
ONE is an international organization that attempts to fight poverty, hunger and disease around the world, with a focus on Africa. Hope Phones is ONE’s most recent international campaign.
“Hope Phones is all about collecting old cell phones and getting them to aid workers in Kenya,” Victoria Bennet, political science senior and president of ONE, said.
ONE is a nonpartisan group which seeks to bring attention to such issues as poverty and disease.
“A lot of people don’t know about these issues, and others frankly just don’t care,” Sean Welch, political science senior and president of the American Civil Liberties Union, said.
The ACLU and the College Democrats host ONE events around IU Southeast.
“ONE wants to gather 35,000 cell phones this month as part of its Hope Phones challenge,” Bennet said. “About 2,581 campuses are participating in this Hope Phones challenge.”
Good communication can help aid workers working in poverty stricken areas.
“There’s a big cell phone shortage in Africa,” Welch said. “[Aid workers] need a cell phone. It can mean life or death if there’s a medical emergency.”
This is not the first ONE campus challenge.
“The first challenge was for students to hold up signs telling about how they care about the poor,” Bennet said.
The campuses that participate in ONE are ranked by points based on the amount of ONE-related campaigns the campuses carry out. IU Southeast has 1,814 points and is currently ranked 10 out of 25 on the list. The University of Michigan Ann Arbor is ranked at one with 4,091 points.
“It’s a bonus for us to try to beat the other universities,” Bennet said. “We will be setting up tables next week to get people to sign up for ONE. We will try to get them to participate in drives, and we will be collecting cell phones.”
The One organization focuses on raising awareness in addition to getting students to give back. The next campus challenge will begin on March 5.
“The next ONE [campaign] will be focusing on the critical need for clean water,” Bennet said. “With a lack of basic sanitation, it can be hard to keep people safe from disease.”
Welch and Bennet have scheduled an event on March 22 to help support this campaign. The fourth and final campus challenge will begin on March 23. It will focus on the G8 Summit.
The G8 Summit is attended by Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, United Kingdom and the U.S. It is a forum attended by the executives of these eight countries. It focuses on a diverse amount of international issues including global energy and economics.
“We will try to get students to send short video clips to President Obama to make sure our leaders have poverty related items on the agenda,” Bennet said.
By BRADLEY COOPER
Staff
bradcoop@ius.edu
