Palatine-based SuperSibs in running for Pepsi grant
Submitted by Julie Mueller, SuperSibs
For the rest of July, the Palatine-based, national nonprofit SuperSibs will be saying "No Coke, Pepsi!" in support of their In a Word: the Sibling Journey art exhibit.
The gallery has been selected by the Pepsi Refresh Project as a finalist for July voting and could earn the nonprofit, which supports the siblings of pediatric cancer patients, $50,000 to tour the curated exhibit in additional communities in the Chicago area.
"Pediatric cancer affects the whole family." said Suzanne Skala, executive director for SuperSibs. "We want to get the family focused on healing together. Including the sibling voice is an important part of the healing process, and this exhibit helps achieve that goal."
SuperSibs is asking for the community's help in these last two weeks to push them out of the Top 20 (out of a field of 1,500) and into the Top 10 projects with the most votes, where each project will be funded by Pepsi.
Some hometown support has already been generated as the Palatine Park District and area businesses have stepped in to help the nonprofit collect valuable codes found on Pepsi products and used in the voting.
The four Palatine Park District pools are displaying "Caps for a Cause" buckets in July, as well as Norma's Coffee Corner and Spunky Dunkers. The Citgo on Northwest Highway is collecting Power codes from cases of Pepsi, as well.
Deb Own, public information manager for the Palatine Park District said, "The Palatine Park District is excited to be a part of this wonderful project and encourages everyone to vote and deposit Pepsi caps in buckets at our pools."
Power code voting has helped the nonprofit currently reach the No. 17 spot in its 50K community. The codes are found on the yellow caps on Pepsi, Pepsi Max and Diet Pepsi bottles and the Power Voting labeled can cases of the same products and are worth between five and 100 votes.
You can help SuperSibs win the Pepsi Refresh Project by voting for them each remaining day in July online at refresheverything.com or text the SuperSibs entry number, 107496, to Pepsi at 73774. As a reminder to the community, SuperSibs has erected a banner with the website and texting numbers outside its office on Hicks and First Bank Drive.
Pepsi is putting $1.125 million back into communities across the country each month by having community organizations submit ideas and selecting 1,500 each month to be voted on at their website or via text message.
The top 10 vote-getters in each of the 5K, 10K, 25K and 50K communities will win the monetary value to fund their idea. On July 1, SuperSibs received official word that its art gallery project would compete in the online voting and texting contest as one of the 1,500 positions awarded for the month of July.
SuperSibs is a national, nonprofit organization ensuring that siblings of children with cancer are honored, supported and recognized so they may face the future with strength, courage and hope.
The organization was started in 2003, and is the only national nonprofit focused solely on an underserved and often unrecognized pediatric cancer survivor: the siblings. SuperSibs currently supports more than 26,000 siblings with free, age-appropriate, direct comfort and care services, as well as incorporates on-site sibling support into pediatric oncology care at hospitals, cancer organizations, camps and other social support organizations. Visit www.supersibs.org
The In a Word: The Sibling Journey exhibit has been featured at the Livestrong Assembly in February 2011 and at Childhood Cancer Day in Washington, D.C., in March to great acclaim.
It is a 15-piece gallery that includes artistic expressions created by 17- and 18-year-old siblings depicting the often overlooked struggles experienced by being the brother or sister of a child with cancer. Each of the selected poems and drawings express this survivorship journey by choosing one word as a theme.
These one-word expressions have been collected by SuperSibs for eight years as part of the selection process for the yearly SuperSibs Scholarship program available for high school seniors and curated to showcase the work currently displayed in the exhibit.