Update from Domestic Abuse Helpline for Men and Women on the Pepsi Project Competition

Day 14 and we are stuck between #183 and #185

Hello Mensactivism Members and Supporters,

I am in hopes that you all are continuing to online and text message vote for us to win the Pepsi competition daily. For those of you who aren't aware or aren't voting (perhaps because you don't know about it or don't know enough about it)...read on...

I have been an advocate for men who are or were in relationships with abusive women for 13 years now. In 2000 I founded the only national non profit in the USA with a toll free helpline that specializes in offering supportive services and public awareness to male victims of domestic violence.

For the last ten years, this all volunteer virtual non profit has worked to bring more public awareness and services to this much maligned under served group of victims with less that 15K in donations annually most years. We aren't able to do as much as we would like given our financial constraints, but we have housed men and their children, purchased bus tickets so that men can escape violent women, bought food, clothing, back to school items and offered other emergency services. My husband and I have even paid for a rebuilt engine so a dad staying in a safe house with us could use his car to find a job.

I tell you all this not to pat myself on the back...I could care less about accolades, I tell you this to help you understand how vital what I am about to ask you is to the future of services and awareness for male victims and survivors.

We are in the Pepsi Refresh Project for the month of August. Our proposal on the Pepsi site requests a grant of $250,000 from Pepsi to do a national public awareness campaign on male victims. We have also included $25,000 for services for abused men and their children and stipends for our volunteers who help with this huge project.

To my knowledge there has never been a public awareness campaign of this size for male victims so this could very well be the start of better things to come.

Please consider supporting our Pepsi project idea by voting daily online and via text messaging and asking your friends and family to do the same. Our notice with more information is below. I thank you in advance for any assistance you can give. Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions: dahmwagency-at-gmail.com (Jan Brown)

Just 2 min. of your time a day over the next 16 days--give under served victims of domestic violence a lifeline

2 minutes...that's it! Go to: http://pep.si/bTXG4P sign up and click "vote for this idea" daily and text your vote: Text: 101761 to Pepsi (73774)

The Domestic Abuse Helpline for Men and Women is seeking a $250,000 award from Pepsi for our project to bring public awareness to under served victims of domestic violence. Read what we plan to do with this grant on the Pepsi site: http://pep.si/bTXG4P

We need your help because the public determines, through voting on their favorite project ideas at the Pepsi site, who wins. VOTE DAILY throughout the month of August.

The name of our project idea, “Give Under Served Victims of Domestic Violence a Lifeline,” located under the 250K Health category.

**VERY IMPORTANT NOTE**: After you click the link for voting, you will be taken to our Pepsi page. Once there, click the “Vote for this idea” button where you will be prompted to register or sign in. After signing in you MUST CLICK THE “VOTE” BUTTON AGAIN to cast your vote (the “vote” button will disappear and say “Good Job”, “Way to Go” or something like that if you voted correctly).

Don't forget you can text your vote: Text: 101761 to Pepsi (73774)

Voting DAILY thru Aug. 31st. Help us spread the word---post this notice to your Facebook and MySpace page, your blog and anywhere else you deem appropriate. Ask your friends and family members to vote and do the same. Thank you for helping us bring awareness and services to under served victims.