Using Power Votes

It's not as difficult as you might think. Power Votes could be the ladder we must climb to win a $50,000 Pepsi Refresh Grant. The fact remains that in the $50,000 category we must be in the top ten--of all the worthy causes--to get a grant. We have until May 31, 2011.

Here's a quick guide on using Power Votes, and also some ideas on how to accumulate those 'specially-marked boxes' and pretty yellow caps. Each cap or box has a code inside that might equal 5, 10, 15 or more votes...all the way to 100!

Sign in to refresheverything.com with the account you set up using your email address. Find our project by clicking here. The picture of SHAMc in its current condition is on the left side of the purple page. On the right you will see "Vote for this idea." Right above that is a place you can click and it says, "Power vote for this idea."

There's a white bar where you will type your code. It says "Enter your code here." If your lid has two rows of letters and numbers like K7XX9 and right under it has 4CPLX (just an example) you will type all those numbers and letters together, like this: K7XX94CPLX -- and capital letters matter.

Click "Activate." A few seconds later you will find out how many votes you activated. It will say "Power Voting activated! Your Power Vote is worth 10 (or other) votes. Now, go put ‘em to work."

This is important. Those votes must be used in order for them to count. You will see white and blue lettering under the notification of earned points. It will say "Check out some ideas or return to your last idea."

You'll be able to get right back to SHAMc by clicking "Return to your last idea." Now click "Power vote."

See how easy that is?

Now here's a fun story from Paula Moynihan who attended Relay for Life at Coachman Park on Friday night. She noticed that Pepsi bottles were everywhere. The refreshment booths had them, recycle bins and garbage cans had them...so she gathered a group of kids and promised them each a quarter for every yellow cap they could find. She said they came back with over 40 caps! She and another woman sat with Paula's iPad and input all the caps. It resulted in 860 votes for SHAMc! Thanks, Paula!

More ways to find caps:

Post a sticky-note on the Pepsi machine at work asking for co-workers to drop their yellow lids off at your desk.

Ask your child's teachers if there is a Pepsi machine in the staff lounge. If so, ask if you can put a box in the lounge for cap collection.

E-mail friends and ask for the codes or the boxes/caps.

Do you have any ideas on gathering lids? If you find them and don't have time to input, we will be collecting power votes at our booth on Third Friday in downtown Safety Harbor on May 20.