Heard about this from Sheila over @ Seriously Sheila. It’s a good idea that is worthy of anyone’s time especially since it takes less than a minute. Please forward this, tweet it, Facebook… whatever you can do.

Happy Easter!

Re-Post of Sheila’s original post below:

An old friend of mine emailed me for help. I’m trying to get the word out. I apoligize if you’ve been accidentally attacked by me with this message, but I feel its worth the effort. Please pass along this information as you choose:

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A month ago, I took a new job with Marine Parents, a non-profit, organization that supports families before, during, and after their Marine’s time of service. If you can imagine, I was pretty relieved to not have to roll burritos anymore, and be doing something more geared towards my writing background; however, as soon as I walked in the door, I became responsible for a $250,000 Pepsi Refresh Grant. Eek!

Pepsi is currently using the money it would have used to pay for commercials during the Super Bowl to fund ideas that help our neighbors, communities, and environment through grants. Only one thousand applicants for the grants are allowed in each month, and once they are accepted byPepsi they are widdled down even further by the votes of the public. In total, 32 ideas of the orginal 1,000 receive funding per month. Of those 32, only 2 receive the $250,000 grant.

Marine Parents has entered its Purple Heart Family Support outreach program which supportsPurple Heart servicemembers and their families into the Pepsi Grant competition with hope to expand the program. Purple Heart Family Support, a volunteer-based initiative, serves meals to Wounded Warriors and their families during the weekends when hospital cafeterias are closed leaving them with limited meal options. Due to current funding, we have only been able to serve two monthly meals at Bethesda Naval Hospital and at the Wounded Warrior Barracks in Balboa, California. With the Pepsi Grant we will be able to turn our 200 meals a year served in 2 hospitals into 20,000 meals served a year in 4 hospitals.

We have been accepted by Pepsi, but now we need your help! Voting begins tonight, March 31st, 11:59 EST/ 10:59 CT/ 8:59 PST, at http://www.refresheverything.com/marineparents and will continue through April 30th. So if you are going to be awake, vote for us then! In the past, ideas that started in the top, ended in the top. So we want to make sure that we are there from the get go so that we can help more Purple Heart service men and women and their families. If you would like more information about Purple Heart Family Support visit www.purpleheartfamilies.com. If you would like more information about how to vote and what we will be doing with the grant visit www.purpleheartfamilies.com/pepsi.

Please forward this on to anyone you know who would be interested in supporting Purple Heart service members and their families! And remember to vote tonight at 11:00 PM central time! A vote a day refreshes Purple Hearts the Pepsi Way!