Here is an opinion-editorial piece by Ian Douglas, one of the founders of EGR and our current president

Here is an opinion-editorial piece by Ian Douglas, one of the founders of EGR and our current president, that we want to appear in as many newspapers across the country as possible. It is EGR's response to the goings on at the World Summit at the United Nations this week. If you've been following it in the news, you no doubt know that the United States Ambassador to the United Nations, John Bolton, has edited out of the document that all of the other nations have agreed to the 0.7% giving provision. Originally, he wanted (on behalf of the US Administration) all references to the MDGs removed, but extreme pressure from other countries got him to back down from that stance

 As it stands now, the 0.7% giving provision - the key to having the necessary money to achieve the MDGs by 2015 - is gone and the MDGs will go unmet. We the people of this great nation need to stand up right now and let the powers that be know that this is not okay with us.

 Here's what you can do:

1. Print out the opinion piece word or pdf

2. Go into the office of your local newspaper editor and ask her to run it in tomorrow's paper.

3. Explain that you are the local face of EGR, and tell him what you're doing locally for EGR and the MDGs.

4. Offer to give an interview to a reporter, or if you have an event planned, offer a photo opportunity to the editor. Just make EGR a local reality for the editor. If they know that you are the local face of EGR, they'll be far more likely to run this opinion piece.

5. If the editor declines, ask for a reason and let us know. Above all, be polite and gracious. We need this person on our side as our movement grows.

6. If the editor agrees, please e-mail us as soon as you get home to say where it's going to appear and when. Then, when it is in print, please clip out the physical editorial and mail it to:

Mike Kinman
EGR
6209 Pershing Ave.
St. Louis, MO
63130

7. If the editor decides to highlight your local work on the MDGs, please also be sure to send us the newspaper clippings from that too.

 Let's see how many newspapers we can get to run this opinion piece. With a bit of work from you, we just may be able to see it in newspapers large and small, from coast to coast! In doing this, we call the faithful to engage the decision-makers in Washington to rise to this historic occasion and make poverty history once and for all.