PURCHASE, N.Y., June 8 /PRNewswire/ -- The Pepsi Refresh Project is giving America the power to decide how to fund good ideas, big and small, that help refresh our world.  Only four months in, the Pepsi Refresh Project has funded over 100 projects and injected more than $5 million back into local communities.  With 32 new grants and $1.3 million awarded each month, the impact of the Project is growing exponentially, reaching cities and towns in more than 30 states so far.

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The Pepsi Refresh Project website, www.refresheverything.com, has served as a repository for America's best new ideas.  Through the end of May, over two million users have registered on the Refresh Project site, which has captured over 5,000 new ideas from all 50 states.  The public decides upon the best ideas by casting up to 10 votes per day.  Public participation showcases the broad reach of the Project and the desire for local stimulus to fund good ideas.

A common thread among the ideas is to circumvent the social hardships caused by a challenging macro-economic environment.  Angela Cobb, chief diversity officer of Teach For America and Pepsi Refresh Advisory Board Member commented, “With so many people recognizing the importance of giving all children access to an excellent education, it is no surprise that the ‘Education’ category leads the way in submissions.”  Cobb continued, “School groups and individuals like Kim Wendt, a teacher at Mitchell Middle School in Racine, Wisconsin, who campaigned for $50,000 to redesign and revamp her school’s science classrooms, are actively seeking funds to enhance their students’ experiences and contribute to their academic success.”

Beyond education, the submissions reflect a diversity of needs.  Some of the great ideas from the May voting pool that the public selected include:

• The Project Playground Country Parkway, Williamsville, New York, will utilize $50,000 to replace an unsafe playground and bring joy to over six hundred children (Neighborhoods)
• With their $50,000 grant, a new community center will be built for the youth of Springfield Township, Ohio, offering new youth activities and basketball courts in their community (Neighborhoods)
• The community of Longmont, Colorado, will use their $5,000 fund to build a Greenhouse Classroom for the Flagstaff Academy Pre-K through 8th Grade school, serving as an educational tool that will illustrate the proper use of the Earth's resources (Education)
• Father of two, Greg Johnson, from Glastonbury, CT, will utilize his $5,000 to fund his 192 mile ride in the Pan-Massachusetts Challenge in memory of his uncle and in support of family and friends who have or are currently battling cancer (Health)

In addition to the chance to receive funding, participants in the Pepsi Refresh Project can network with like-minded groups and individuals to share tips and resources on traditional and social fundraising methods, and many receive local and national exposure.

To view the entire list of Pepsi Refresh Grant Finalists for May, visit: http://www.refresheverything.com/finalists

Refreshing Facts and Stats from the Pepsi Refresh Project

• 127 refreshing ideas have been funded by the Pepsi Refresh Project
• Over 5,000 ideas have been submitted, including ideas from every state
• Submissions come from a mix of Boomers, Gen-Xers and Millennials
• Refresheverything.com has registered over two million users and receives approximately five million unique visitors a month
• Pepsi Refresh Project ideas have received over 25 million votes
• Pepsi has more than doubled Facebook fans since the start of the program
• @Pepsi has grown to more than 24,000 Twitter followers  
• The volume of online conversation has been exceptional, with more than 60,000 tweets (175 million Twitter impressions to date), including celebrities like Lance Armstrong (@lancearmstrong), Ice T (@FINALLEVEL), Kathy Griffin (@kathygriffin), Moby (@thelittleidiot), and Tori Spelling (@torianddean)

"Ideas supported or submitted by influencers such as Bruce Springsteen, Ellen Pompeo, Rihanna, and Jenny McCarthy have also been in the running for funding," confirms Jill Beraud, CMO and President, Joint Venture, PepsiCo Beverages Americas.  "However, data about the Pepsi Refresh grant recipients reflect findings from the most recent Pepsi Optimism Project (POP) Study, released in January 2010, that 70 percent of Americans believe that new ideas from 'people like you and me' will only become more impactful in the next decade."

The POP Study also found that Americans believe their neighbors may have better ideas about how to move our country forward than authority figures, such as bosses or political leaders. According to our survey participants, the best sources for the ideas to keep moving forward are the people they know: 19 percent cited their friends; 15 percent pointed to their children; 13 percent are looking to their mothers and grandparents for inspiration. There's far less reliance, according to the survey, on traditional authority figures -- bosses and politicians were each named as capable of coming up with great ideas by only 2 percent of respondents.

About the Pepsi Refresh Project

In an effort to support those who generate innovative, optimistic ideas, the Pepsi Refresh Project will award more than $20 million in 2010 to move communities forward.  Each month, Pepsi will award up to $1.3 million in grants through www.refresheverything.com to the ideas with the most votes.  Pepsi will accept up to 1,000 new ideas every month and the public decides who wins. The newest round of ideas was launched on June 1.  In addition, the Pepsi Refresh Project will award auxiliary grants through program partners.

The Pepsi Refresh Project can be found at www.refresheverything.com, on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/refresheverything or on Twitter, @Pepsi or #pepsirefresh.

The Pepsi Refresh Project is an evolution of the Refresh Everything initiative Pepsi launched in 2009, which showed the brand as an optimistic catalyst for idea creation, leading to an ever-refreshing world.  Pepsi will fund projects that make a difference in six categories: Health, Arts & Culture, Food & Shelter, The Planet, Neighborhoods and Education.

About Pepsi

Pepsi is a product of PepsiCo Beverages Americas (PBA).  In addition to the Pepsi trademark, the PBA portfolio includes the Mountain Dew, Sierra Mist and Mug trademarks in the carbonated soft drink category. PBA is a division of PepsiCo, Inc., which offers the world's largest portfolio of billion-dollar food and beverage brands, including 19 different product lines that each generates more than $1 billion in annual retail sales. Our main businesses - Frito-Lay, Quaker, Pepsi-Cola, Tropicana and Gatorade - also make hundreds of other nourishing, tasty foods and drinks that bring joy to our consumers in more than 200 countries. With annualized revenues of nearly $60 billion, PepsiCo's people are united by our unique commitment to sustainable growth, called Performance with Purpose. By dedicating ourselves to offering a broad array of choices for healthy, convenient and fun nourishment, reducing our environmental impact, and fostering a diverse and inclusive workplace culture, PepsiCo balances strong financial returns with giving back to our communities worldwide. In recognition of its continued sustainability efforts, PepsiCo was named for the third time to the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index (DJSI World) and for the fourth time to the Dow Jones Sustainability North America Index (DJSI North America) in 2009. For more information, please visit www.pepsico.com.

SOURCE Pepsi-Cola North America Beverages