Jan. 19, 2011 – For the last two and a half years, Milwaukee County has been without an affordable center for supervised exchanges and visitations for low-income families. This is a huge gap in social services for families in crisis.
The Sojourner Family Peace Center, along with partner Legal Aid Society of Milwaukee, responded to this need by turning to the Pepsi Refresh Project to fund a new Safe Exchange and Visitation Center. “We have tried for various grants, but with the economy the competition for those scarce dollars is fierce,” says Linnea Mattiesen of the Legal Aid Society of Milwaukee.
Each month Pepsi gives away $1.3 million to projects that help the community. Pepsi accepted the Sojourner Family Peace Center’s application for $250,000, one of many applications accepted for public voting this month.
“It is a popularity vote,” says Mattiesen. “To win the $250,000, we need your votes … every day through the end of January. You can submit up to 10 votes each day. At the end of the month, the top two applicants will win the funding.”
The Safe Exchange and Visitation Center will help not only the children survivors of domestic violence but also both the abuser and the victim parent, says Mattiesen. “The center also is a safe place for a child to reestablish a relationship with a parent who has been absent for a period from a child’s life. It will serve at least 100 families per year.
How to vote
There are four ways to vote: via text, or through Pepsi’s website, your Facebook page, or your smartphone. Vote only one way, up to 10 times, each day through Jan. 31, 2011.
- Text your vote to Pepsi at 73774 with the message 105620.
- Vote directly at www.Refresheverything.com. Search for Safe Exchange under $250,000 and “near you.”
- Through your Facebook page, download the voting app.
- Download the app to your smartphone.
The children need your daily vote using at least one of these methods,” says Mattiesen. “You will help children who have witnessed domestic violence have a safe place to maintain or establish a relationship with the most important people to them, their parents”
Contact Linnea J. Mattiesen at (414) 25706324 to learn more about this project.
