The Official Modest Needs Blog

One Move Vote: Last Day at Bat in the Pepsi Refresh Project

You are to be commended. You have truly outdone yourselves.

Today is the final day of the Pepsi Refresh Project in which Modest Needs is trying to win a $250,000 grant to aid the unemployed in the Gulf. You know this. You've been with us the entire way.

And for that we want to thank you, sincerely, from the bottom of our hearts. We know the process has been frustrating at times, and that the constant reminders could be overwhelming in your already busy lives, so please know how much we appreciate your constant and tireless support.

Today is the last day to vote. We've been in 3rd place for a long while now, even with all your endless help. One last push on our part could send us into the winning 1st or 2nd slots, which will enable us to double the $250K and get it into the hands of those who need it most, right away. Maybe it won't. But at least we can all say we tried.

Just click here to vote: http://gulf.refresheverything.com/gulfmodestneeds

Again, all of us at Modest Needs recognize your efforts in trying to make this happen, and we applaud you most sincerely. Thank you for your passion and your dedication.

48 Hours Left to Aid Gulf Unemployed

Tomorrow is it. The final day of the Pepsi Refresh Project, and our attempt at a $250K grant for those unemployed in the Gulf region.

As you well know, we moved into 3rd place, and never got out. It's almost worse than being in 100th place. So close!

So, with just 48 hours left to go, we ask you yet again for a quick vote. Who knows if we can bring it home in two days time, but we might as well try. You all have been very supportive and consistent, and we thank you for it.

This is our final push. And we should try until the finish line. Cast your vote today.

One Word Sunday

Now.

Quick and Dirty: Drive Thru Voting

Let's cut to the chase: We don't like bugging you to vote any more than you like being bugged to vote.

Let's all be honest.

But, we wouldn't bug you all to vote every day if we didn't know we could turn this grant into something life changing for a lot of people.

So, I'll be short and to the point. We're this close...and it is almost over.

If you've got two minutes, you've got enough time to make an enormous difference.

That is all. Thank you, drive thru.

Get Stronger and Faster Today

Does doing good make you stronger? Does helping others give you more endurance?

Seems the answer is yes:

Gray’s findings are based on two studies. In the first, participants were given $1, and were told either to keep it or to donate it to charity. They were then asked to hold up a 5-lb. weight for as long as they could. Those who donated to charity could hold the weight up for almost 10 seconds longer, on average.

In a second study, participants held a weight while writing fictional stories of themselves either helping another, harming another, or doing something that had no impact on others. As before, those who thought about doing good were significantly stronger than those whose actions didn’t benefit other people.

But surprisingly, the would-be malefactors were even stronger than those who envisioned doing good deeds.

So, your obvious next step is this: Vote Modest Needs in the Pepsi Refresh Project, then go hit the gym. Your bench press will be unstoppable.

Scammers Suck, but You Can Help

We've already talked about how many jobs may be lost as a result of the oil spill in the Gulf, and that number is very, very high. (We've also looked at an example of who is affected by this loss of work.) But to make matters even worse, some people who are looking for jobs in the Gulf region are being scammed out of time and money and energy, with no employment pay-off to speak of.

Here's a brief news report explaining how some very heartless people are taking advantage of the very vulnerable:

As Modest Needs asks for your help in voting in the Pepsi Refresh Project, we want to remind you that not only do we plan to double the $250,000 grant, we also make perfectly sure that the funds issued goes to those who genuinely need it. At Modest Needs we thoroughly vet every single application that we receive, and you can rest assured that no scammers slip through this process. Our hardworking and dedicated team at Modest Needs puts a great amount of effort into substantiating all claims.

And what is even better is that we are already set up to do this! It's part of our daily duties at Modest Needs. This means we can expedite the funds to those who desperately need it quickly and efficiently.

So, here is where you come in: All you have to do is vote. That's it! We need to be in 1st or 2nd place to secure the grant and get this aid down to the Gulf in a hurry.

Two minutes. You've got two minutes. So, get to clicking, and from Modest Needs and from those we aim to help in the Gulf: Thank you.

Who Your Vote Will Help

 Yesterday we talked about the number of people who have or will lose their jobs in the Gulf region.  

Today we take a close look at just one of these individuals.

The Press-Register is profiling people who have lost work due to the oil spill, one of which is a 72-year-old immigrant who can no longer earn an income shucking oysters:

Cua Thi Huynh, 72, Grand Bay, oyster shucker

The Press-Register reported in a July 6 article that Huynh became unemployed when a seafood processing plant shut down after the spill. She had been collecting cans and selling eggs to make ends meet.

History: Huynh came to the United States from Vietnam about 13 years ago. She settled in Bayou La Batre and worked in the seafood processing industry, along with her daughter.

Outlook: On the day of the Press-Register’s first visit with Huynh, she asked David Pham, a program administrator with Boat People SOS who was translating for her, to read a letter. She was eligible for food stamps and would receive $150 a month in assistance. That lasted one month, she said. Officials with the Alabama Department of Human Resources dropped her, saying that she was earning income from selling the aluminum cans. She did not receive assistance in July or August, she said. Pham said Huynh was told that she was receiving “odd income” and therefore was not eligible for food stamps. The local office of Boat People SOS — a national group that advocates for Asian communities — is working to restore her food stamp benefits, Pham said.

Claims process: She has filed two claims and has received two payments of $1,000 each. She has filed for a third payment. She “has been waiting, waiting, waiting like everyone else but hasn’t heard anything from it,” Pham said. “She said she doesn’t complain because they haven’t said no. So she is still waiting.”

Huynh is precisely the type of person a doubled $250,000 grant from Pepsi could help. And there are thousands and thousands more like her.

All you have to do to help them is vote.

[Photo by Press-Register/John David Mercer]

Why We Are Doing This

A new, somber report shows that as many as one million jobs could be lost as a result of the BP Gulf oil spill over the next five years.

One million lost jobs.

More conservative estimates say as many as 100,000 jobs may be lost.

Still. That's an enormous amount of loss.

From NPR:

The oil has stopped flowing into the Gulf of Mexico, and that should be a relief. But with fewer cleanup jobs to be had, many of the people hit hardest by the huge spill are struggling as badly as ever.

Boat captains and deckhands who managed to put food on the table over the summer because they got hired by BP to skim the oil are being dropped from the payroll while huge swaths of the Gulf remain off-limits to those who haul in shrimp, oysters and other seafood.

Now, just when with the environmental and engineering crisis is easing, large charities providing food to coastal communities have run out of money, homeless shelters are filling up with men thrown out of work by the spill, and demand for drug and alcohol counseling is up.

In yet another source of anxiety for fishermen and others, the federal government took over the handling of oil-spill damage claims from BP on Monday, and many people along the Gulf are waiting to see how Obama administration appointee Kenneth Feinberg administers the $20 billion victims compensation fund set up by the company.

Already, there are indications he intends to be stricter than BP in some cases when it comes to handing out checks to individuals and businesses.

The trickle down of this is that hardworking, faultless individuals will soon have to choose between dinner and prescription medicine. Soon they will have to choose between car insurance and rent. Between baby formula or the electricity bill. 

Each lost job will most likely mean a hardship for each family. Single mothers are going to need gas money. Unemployed dads will need new shoes for the little ones.

That's where Modest Needs comes in. We have a special assistance available to those who have lost their jobs, and with your help we can send $500,000--double the $250,000 grant Pepsi gives to winners--right into the hands of these families. With your votes, we can provide a financial bridge for those who may have no where else to turn.

We are so very, very close to taking this home. We just need a big, last minute push to bring this grant home, to the Gulf, to those who need it.

You can make this happen with your vote.

[Photo by IBRRC]

One Word Sunday

Help.

A Video Reminder

Modest Needs remains in 3rd place in the Pepsi Refresh Project. So close.

So, today I thought I'd post a video reminder of what it is so important to click to vote today and every day for the rest of the month. It's these people who need your votes:

Have a great weekend. Your support means so much.