A community voting blitz is underway this month for a $250,000 Pepsi Refresh grant that would help kick-start the construction of a Redding community baseball field for youth leagues and collegiate teams on Simpson University’s campus.
Online voters are eligible to win an iPad.
The Let’s Play Ball project is about $350,000 shy of its $2.2 million goal to reassemble the pieces of Vacaville’s former Nut Tree Stadium on Simpson’s northeast Redding property, officials said. Add Some Color Inc., a Redding nonprofit, and Simpson University partnered more than two years ago to bring the ballpark to the north state.
The Redding Community Baseball Field committee submitted an application in September to the highly competitive Pepsi Refresh Project and was chosen as one of about 1,200 total contestants for October.
Since voting began Oct. 1, the Let’s Play Ball project has climbed from a 197th ranking to 22nd place this week. Only the top two vote-getters in the $250,000 category will win grants. Recipients are determined by the number of votes received online and via text.
Pepsi chose to put millions into a social media campaign this year instead of advertising during the Super Bowl. Each month, the company is donating about $1.3 million in grants ranging from $5,000 to $250,000.
Votes for the baseball field can be cast daily through Oct. 31. Each time a vote is cast through www.facebook.com/letsplayball, the voter is entered into a drawing to win one of several iPads offered by Simpson University. (Voters do not need to have a Facebook account.)
Other partners in the baseball field project include the Major League Baseball Players Association, Baseball Tomorrow, the city of Redding, the Colt .45’s and the Redding Vipers. The goal is to construct a drug-, alcohol- and tobacco-free park that would provide a venue for youth sports as well as a home field for Simpson’s Red Hawks baseball team and the Colt .45s, a summer collegiate team, officials say.
Ways to vote for the Let’s Play Ball Pepsi Refresh grant:
1 . Text 103305 to 73774 (Pepsi)
2 . Vote directly through Pepsi (pep.si/lpball)
3 . Vote directly from Facebook (bit.ly/lpbapp)
4 . Vote after registering for iPad drawing (facebook.com/letsplayball)
