Shayne Moore

Ideas Are Powerful. About a year ago several women and moms began discussing how we could raise our voices on behalf of those living in extreme poverty, famine and disease. As a long time member of ONE, these issues are important to me. We brainstormed ideas, reached out into our networks and spheres of influences and ONE Moms was born.

Women are the caretakers of the world and as moms we care deeply not only about the well being of our own children but we are thoughtful and deeply concerned about children struggling worldwide. The famine in the Horn of Africa can seem far away but images of malnourished children strike our mother’s heart.

This week I had the honor of attending a meeting at the White House in the Roosevelt Room with ONE Moms and Dr. Jill Biden, Dr. Rajiv Shah, Administrator of USAID and Gayle Smith of the National Security Council. Dr. Biden, knowing the ONE Moms had traveled to Kenya last summer, was eager to share her experiences from her recent trip to Africa. She made the trip to learn firsthand about the situation with the famine and growing crisis.

At a large conference table in the West Wing Dr. Biden, a fellow mom, shared her experience, troubled heart and passion for change. She wanted to hear our stories and our hearts as well. Amidst historic paintings, iconic portraits, official flags lining one wall, a table of moms brainstormed, asked questions, and worked together toward solutions.

The meeting had great energy and real passion. We asked hard questions and agreed on real solutions. There is hope even in the incredibly difficult issues of extreme poverty, education, disease, famine and funding. Every now and then I had to remind myself where I was and whose company I was in. Ideas are powerful and somehow, as a full time mom from the Midwest, I was sitting in the White House at a meeting as we shared ideas of how to help other moms and families just like our own.

The experience of motherhood is universal no matter who you are or where you live. It matters what is happening to other moms and children worldwide. Or as Dr. Biden put it, “We’re all in this together.”

Watch the ONE Moms short video and join us at www.ONE.org/moms.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 25th, 2011 at 6:22 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.