Pepsi Refresh Project - ATN

So what is a self-professed Diet Coke addict doing with a couple hundred bottles of Pepsi in the living room?

If you read my blog post, Dumpster Diving For ATN, you've got a clue what's going on.

I volunteer for a group called the Attachment & Trauma Network.  We work with families who have adopted a child with abuse and/or neglect in their early life.  Many times this leads to emotional and behavioral issues.  We help the families find resources to help these children.

Every single person on staff is a volunteer.  Not one person collects a salary.  Every single person on staff is parenting at least one traumatized child.  We understand the parents we work with, because we ARE those parents.

What does this have to do with Coke and Pepsi?  ATN is in a contest to win a $50,000 grant from Pepsi.  To do this, we need votes of all kinds.  There are three different ways you can help us.

1) Go to the ATN page at Pepsi Refresh and vote for ATN every day.  You can login through Facebook or you can create an account and sign in that way.

2) Text 109066 to 73774 (Pepsi) every day from every text capable phone you have.

3) This is where we need the most help - get us Pepsi codes!!!  There are special bottles and packs of Pepsi that have a code inside of them.  Each of those codes is worth 5, 10, 15, 25, 50 or 100 votes.  We don't know how many until they are input in the contest page.  You can vote these codes for ATN, or you can e-mail the code to me and someone from our staff will vote it.  These codes make a HUGE difference in where we finish.

So, how do you know where to find the codes.  First of all, they are only on Pepsi, Diet Pepsi and Pepsi Max bottles and packages.  The caps look like this.

It's the yellow cap on the bottle, and the cap says "Refresh Your World" on it.  If the color is other than yellow, it doesn't help us for this project.  If it doesn't have the refresh your world on it, it doesn't help either.

The 12 packs and cases are different.

They say "Power Vote" in the corner of the box.  Look at the upper right corner of the 12 pack in the picture and you'll see what I mean.  The code is inside the box.  You have to completely open the box up to find it.  It's not on an end.

If you live in a state that has redemption centers, please ask them if you can get the caps.  Some centers are very helpful, others are not.  Schools, ballparks, hotels, service stations, anywhere that sells Pepsi, ask if they will collect caps.  This contest ends on 9/30/2011, so there isn't much time left.

I want to give a huge shout out to the Shell station on Hwy 33 and Hwy Z in West Bend, WI.  They helped me get over 130 bottles of Pepsi products today, carried them to my car for me, and even went back into their cooler to help find more.

So.... look for those "Power Votes" or "Refresh Your World" symbols and either Power vote those codes for ATN, or e-mail them and we'll get them voted.

Send this information to everyone you know or refer them to this blog.  $50,000 will help thousands of families!!  You can be a part of that.

If you want to help another way, you can donate to ATN to help us offset the cost of acquiring these codes.

If you have questions, feel free to drop me an email.

Dumpster Diving for ATN

What sane person gets up at 6:00 AM to go dig through trash cans and scrounge under bleachers?  Well, I do, but I"m not sane, so it's fitting.

Why in the world would I do this on a Monday morning?  Or any morning for that matter?  Because those cans and bleachers contain "plastic gold."

The organization my husband and I volunteer for, the Attachment & Trauma Network (ATN) is in the hunt for a $50,000 grant from Pepsi.  If you're not familiar with ATN we are a post adoption support, education and advocacy group.  Occasionally we work with families who are biological families but their child has had some trauma, usually a medical issue.  The vast majority of the families we serve are foster/adoptive families.  The children have been subjected abuse and/or neglect in their early life and have emotional and behavioral issues because of it.  In addition, there are often mental health issues, whether it's due to maternal drug and alcohol use, or other organic mental illness such as ADHD or Bi-Polar disorder.

ATN is ENTIRELY volunteer driven.  My good friend, Nancy, started the organization in 1995 and ran it by herself until about 2003/2004 when several of us joined the staff.  We are now a vital organization.  Members of our group testified before Congress a few months ago about the lack of Post Adoption Support.

So, what does this have to do with dumpster diving?  OK, I wasn't really in a dumpster, but I smelled like it when I got home.

Pepsi has a monthly contest in which various organizations compete for "votes" to win a grant.  ATN is competing for a $50,000 grant.  Supporters can vote via Facebook, e-mail and text, but at this stage of the game, the real votes are in Pepsi codes.  Each code can be entered on Pepsi Refresh Website and is worth anywhere from 5 - 100 extra votes.  These are the yellow plastic caps on top of Pepsi bottles.  There are also codes inside specially marked boxes.

My husband works for a private ambulance service and was the standby ambulance at the Slinger Super Speedway.  He noticed an abundance of "yellow gold" floating around the racetrack.  I contacted someone from the track, and they were nice enough to let me come and scrounge for the caps.  So, my daughter and I set out early this morning to dig through the trash to find these precious caps.

This was our haul after about 2 hours of work.  Having a skinny, flexible 9 year old along certainly helped.  She could fit into some small places that I couldn't.  She was actually excited about doing this.

I explained to her that she is in our family because of ATN.  I met her previous family through ATN.  Had I not been part of that organization, she wouldn't be my daughter.

When I explained to the man at the racetrack why I was looking for these, he was happy to help.  People do want to help, but they don't always know how.  This is a very simple way.  It didn't cost the track anything and they didn't have to do any work either, but they were able to contribute.  We collected 190 codes today.  We will be back after the races for the last few weeks of the season.

If you want to help families, I will willingly take your Pepsi codes.  You can e-mail them to me at kelly at attachtrauma.org.  $50,000 is a huge amount of money for us and can do so much good for families.  It only takes a few minutes of your time and can help countless families.

And a great big thank you to Slinger Super Speedway for the help!!!  If you want to vote via Facebook or E-mail, you can find the information on the ATN Website.  Vote every day!!