Schools

You Can Help L'Anse Creuse Win $25,000 Pepsi Grant

The L'Anse Creuse School District is in the running for a grant from the Pepsi Refresh Project, but needs community votes to win the money.

For the Pepsi Refresh Project, the third time may be the charm for

After two previous attempts to enter its proposal in the nationwide grant competition, L'Anse Creuse was finally accepted into the $25,000 category for December.

The new challenge? To garner enough votes to surpass several hundred other proposals and secure a spot in the category's top 10.

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"We are relying on the public to vote every day in December because Pepsi awards the top 10 vote-getters in the $25,000 category the grant," Michelle Irwin, L'Anse Creuse senior director for community relations and programs, said in a prepared statement. "We are competing with other nonprofit organizations throughout the United States, so we really need our community's support."

The grant would allow L'Anse Creuse to implement a second year of student-run, career-focused projects that benefit senior citizens and economically disadvantaged members of the community.

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"We have the (Frederick V.) Pankow Center, and one of our goals is to provide authentic learning experiences for students while working on career objectives," Irwin said. "The project we piloted (last year) was 'Seniors Helping Seniors,' and the goal of the grant is to provide some of those services this year."

Should L'Anse Creuse receive the grant, it will once again be able to provide services such as computer repairs, exercise, health screenings, Internet classes, theater performance and automotive repair to low-income community members.

By providing these services, Irwin said she believes L'Anse Creuse career and technical education students can gain vital real-life experience.

If L'Anse Creuse does not win the grant, Irwin said the district will be able to pursue some elements of the project, but the services will be limited.

"The purpose of the grant is to provide the supplies and materials that are necessary, too," she said. "If we do something like blood-pressure screening and diabetes screening, we need supplies. If we're going to do computer repairs, we won't have the money for the parts if we don't get the grant."

Bouncing from 200th place to 16th in the first week, L'Anse Creuse currently sits at 51st, with more than two weeks remaining in the competition.

"Michigan's tough economy has hit schools hard," said DiAnne Pellerin, L'Anse Creuse Public Schools superintendent. "I am proud of the way our district continues to work collaboratively to seek out additional revenue sources to continue unique education opportunities that benefits our community."

Voting can be done in several different ways, and an individual can vote as many as three times a day until Dec. 31.

  • Text 104382 to Pepsi (73774)
  • Follow L'Anse Creuse on Facebook, choose "Like" and remember to vote daily

Pepsi distributes $1.3 million each month in $250,000, $50,000, $25,000 and $5,000 increments. Some 1,095 ideas are competing for the month of December.

Finalists for the grants will be announced Jan. 1.


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