Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Make A Difference With Just A Click

Today I received an email from The Humane Society which asked for my vote in the Pepsi Refresh Project. I was completely in the dark about the project, but I clicked on the link to vote, and after visiting the site and reading more about their efforts, I felt I had to share it with you guys.

Basically, Pepsi is giving away grants to fund great ideas which will have a positive impact in our communities. Anyone can submit an idea, individuals, businesses and non-profits. Pepsi is accepting 1,000 ideas every month. Each month applications are accepted from the 1st to the 15th or until such time that they receive 1,000 ideas. They have $5K, $25K, $50K, and $250K grants. The $5K, $25K, and $50K grants will each have up to 10 awardees per month. The $250K will have up to 2 awardees. Submitted ideas have been broken down by categories, including Health, The Planet, Education and many more. You can check out the current leaders in each category, shuffle the list and view random entries, or view those that are near you.

Visit the site and either submit an idea of your own or vote for a worthy candidate. If you love animals vote for The Humane Society submission, or select one of the other worthy candidates. I loved Comfort4canines which was submitted by a 13-year old girl looking to provide a little TLC to shelter dogs ($5K category), and also loved Butterfly Kisses Playgroup, a submission from the mother of a special needs child looking to build a facility with playground equipment especially designed for handicapped children ($50K category). You can vote for up to 10 of your favorite ideas every day, so spread the wealth.

Register and vote! One click of your mouse can bring a worthy idea that much closer to reality.

Update: Yipee! Each one of the three candidates for which I was voting (listed above) won their grant! Thanks to all those friends who took the time to vote for my favorites.