By Larissa Izaguirre
Grenville Baker Boys & Girls Club
Earlier this year, as a part of a Keystone project a group of my fellow Keystoner’s, myself, and staff members from the Global Citizens Project, advocated to help combat world hunger.
When I heard about the Global Citizens Festival and Beyoncé playing this past September, I immediately looked online to see how I can get tickets, but it was then I realized that this was more than just a concert.
The Global Citizens festival is a free ticketed event, but in order to get tickets you can win them through taking action to end extreme poverty. You must complete an action journey—or a series of actions—in order to enter the ticket draw and the actions ranged from signing a petition to ask leaders to fund healthcare systems in developing countries, to sharing articles through social media, to calling a world leader on the phone.
So to begin our journey our Keystone group reached out to the Global Poverty Project, located in New York City, to see what we could do as a Keystone group to help contribute to their mission.
Our planning and outreach paid off and we got a chance to visit our local Congressmen, Steve Israel, to ask him to sponsor the Global Food Security Act, with Judith Rowland from the Global Poverty Project. This bill proposes a solution to fight world hunger. Because of our efforts to raise awareness and our collaboration with members of the Global Poverty Project, we were asked to volunteer at the Global Citizen’s Festival and get a chance to enjoy the concert!
The Global Citizens Festival was a concert in Central Park this September to advocate for the Millennium Development Goals being passed by the United Nations. There were dozens of speakers and artists promoting their support for the goals. Attending this festival was an unforgettable experience; not only did we have the opportunity to attend an amazing concert but in addition, we raised awareness about the amount of girls not receiving an adequate education worldwide. We spread the word to thousands of attendees at the concert about our mission and we encouraged them to post pictures using the hashtag #62MillionGirls.
First Lady Michelle Obama attended the concert and she spoke about and shared the hashtag herself, so it felt great to have the First Lady spreading your message. This experience made me reflect on how I take my education for granted. Now I realize how fortunate I am and I am grateful to be able to attend school every day. Thank you to the Global Citizens Project, Congressmen Israel, and those who take part in the fight to end global poverty!
The Club
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