PepsiCo’s Pepsi Refresh Project, a more than $20 million grant initiative, is pledging $1.3 million to fund ideas to support communities in the Gulf states. The Pepsi Refresh Project: Do Good for the Gulf will help communities that have been most directly affected by the recent oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The Pepsi Refresh Project is awarding $1.3 million in grant funds every month this year and is doubling its efforts in August to support ideas that will help Gulf communities.

 

A special category in this campaign has been created solely for ideas that help refresh Gulf states at www.refresheverything.com. Submissions for Gulf ideas will open on July 12 and close on July 16 or when Pepsi receives 1,000 submissions, whichever occurs first. Public voting will start on August 2, and grant recipients will be announced on September 2. Pepsi will award grants in increments of $5,000, $25,000, $50,000 and $250,000 to ideas that receive the greatest number of votes.

 

"We were inspired by the quality of submissions we have received to date from people around the country to refresh their communities and by the incredible resilience of Gulf residents to introduce a category dedicated to refreshing communities in the Gulf states in the wake of the recent oil spill," said Jill Beraud, chief marketing officer, Pepsi Beverages America, in a statement. "What the Pepsi Refresh Project has taught us over the past six months is that American ingenuity is alive and well, so we know there are great ideas out there that will bring hope and opportunity back to families and communities who need it most."

 

Since its launch in January of this year, The Pepsi Refresh Project has awarded more than $7 million in grants. To date, several initiatives have been funded in the Gulf, including Homes of Hope for Children in Hattiesburg, Miss., recipient of a $250,000 grant to construct a facility to house foster children from across the state, and the P.O.T.S. (Peace on the Streets) Project, which received a $50,000 grant to fund anti-violence programs for at-risk youth in New Orleans.