One person dies every three seconds from poverty, hunger, lack of clean water and/or HIV/AIDS, said the president of the K-State chapter of a poverty-fighting organization.

David Westfall, graduate student in sociology and president of the K-State chapter of the organization ONE, recently joined more than 120 student activists from across the United States at a special summit on ending poverty, the ONE Power 100 Summit from Jan. 2-5, in Washington, D.C.

Westfall came back to campus inspired to get students involved in the ONE Campus Challenge. The challenge is to get universities connected with the national ONE campaign by participating in more than 100 activities, which earn universities points. The top 10 universities will be included in an all-university vote to earn a concert by a top recording artist at the winning campus.

Amanda Staats, freshman in pre-professional business administration and a member of the organization of ONE, said it is an easy way to change the world.

"People should try [the ONE organization] because its a simple way to make a difference and get the message out there," Staats said.

Westfall will recruit students to participate in the activities during the chapter's first meeting at 5:30 p.m. Jan. 29 in the K-State Student Union Food Court.

The K-State chapter will work with surrounding universities like Kansas, Missouri, Colorado and Missouri State. The chapter is ranked No. 26 out of 1,300 active universities.

Westfall said he fosters a passion about raising awareness at different universities to connect to the larger campaign.

"Here at K-State we have a large group of passionate people," Westfall said. "The problem is people don't know about the issues. Even though we have our problems here, there's a larger picture at hand."

He said there are Americans who are impoverished, and the government needs to get involved.

Westfall said the ONE campaign is nonpartisan.

"There is only ONE side to the fight against poverty," he said.

There are 2.5 million members involved with the the ONE campaign worldwide. More than 100 of the most respected nonprofit organizations are working toward achieving the eight millennium development goals: end hunger, establish universal education, gender equity, child health, maternal health, combat HIV/AIDS, environmental sustainability and global partnership, according to the organization's Web site.

More than 188 countries have signed on to work toward these goals to end global poverty, Westfall said.

Less than 1 percent of the US budget is spent on issues like poverty. With presidential calls, some candidates have promised to donate more than $50 billion. Supporters also include U2 singer Bono and former Senate Majority Leaders Bill Frist and Tom Daschle, Westfall said.

The International Monitor Fund had to shut its Web site down because of the amount of e-mails it received and because of the lack of ability to respond to everyone, Westfall said.

"This chapter will go a long way with the help from the national chapter and the students on our campus," Staats said.