Pepsi Refresh Project to Award $1.3 Million in Grant Funding to Help Gulf Communities

Purchase, N.Y., July 8, 2010 -- The Pepsi Refresh Project, a $20 million initiative designed by Pepsi, is pledging $1.3 million to support communities in the Gulf States. The Pepsi Refresh Project: Do Good for the Gulf will empower Americans to make a positive impact on communities that have been most directly affected by the recent oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

The Pepsi Refresh Project is currently 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 Monday, July 12 at noon ET and close on Friday, July 16 at 11:59 a.m. or when Pepsi receives 1,000 submissions, whichever occurs first. Public voting will start on Monday, August 2, and grant recipients will be announced on Thursday, 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.

"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."