By: Angela Hu, GOOD Projects Intern

With the astounding number of idea submissions each month, and our portfolio of Refresh Project grantees continuing to grow, it’s challenging choosing which projects to highlight. From planning an education summit in New York City to attending a groundbreaking in Wisconsin, our grant managers here at GOOD have been working closely with the grantees, coaching them through the process of turning their ideas into successful projects. Every Friday, we’ll be highlighting some of the many stories our grant managers have come across and share them with you.

Our grant manager Isis Krause is working with both The Tommy Foundation, a non-profit organization that aims to provide education to Autism communities in the U.S, and Project Sweet Peas, an organization created to bring gift bags and goodies to families of children in intensive care.

“The Tommy Foundation is hitting the road this month to begin their cross-country six-week filming and interviewing adventure for their Pepsi Refresh Project grant-funded documentary, The United States of Autism,” says Isis. Co-founder Rich Everts says he’s extremely proud of the diversity that will be represented in the film and proud that “we have families from all colors, speaking different languages and representing a wide range of demographics.” After filming in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, Rich and his crew will move on to Illinois and through to Wisconsin by the end of the week. We’re Cheering for Rich and the rest of the crew! Go, Rich, go!

Project Sweet Peas, another of Isis’ grantees, brings hope and smiles during an otherwise difficult time. Megan Skaggs started a local chapter of Project Sweet Peas in Kansas after losing one of her twins, Michael Joseph (MJ), who stayed in the ICU for 35 days.

Megan and other Project Sweet Pea chapters will be able to donate over 600 gift bags with their Pepsi Refresh Project grant money. “MJ is gone, but he will never be forgotten,” Megan said. “Thirty five days was not nearly enough, but he will remain in our hearts forever.”

While visiting the offices of GOOD, Mark Neidig from the Kanzius Cancer Research Foundation met with Carla Fernandez and the team about his $250,000 grant. “His visit turned into an amazing story time about the late John Kanzius and the innovative device he invented in 2004 to kill cancer cells without any side effects,” says Carla.

John Kanzius, a broadcast radio executive, was a “total brainchild, a real whiz,” according to Neidig. When Kanzius was undergoing treatment for his leukemia, he started befriending the other young patients he regularly came across in the hospital waiting room. “Kanzius watched these vibrant, energized children become limp and tired from the nasty side effects of their treatment, and John thought, ‘There has to be another way to treat cancer,’” says Neidig.

John’s wife remembers him waking up in the middle of the night, and rigging the first prototype of the Kanzius cancer-treating device in their kitchen. He hooked up two pie tins to a transistor radio, and used a string to hang a hot-dog with a small bit of metal inside between the metal dishes. John discovered that when the radio waves were directed at the hotdog, they burnt through the cells where the metal was embedded without heating up the rest of the meat. He thought, “If only I can get metal small enough, and into a cancer cell, we could kill these malignant cells from the inside out without hurting the surrounding tissue, and without the debilitating side effects.”

Six years later, John’s device is in action, and has come a long way from the prototype. Scientists are now able to get a piece of gold into a cancer cell relative in size to a golf-ball in a football stadium. While John is no longer here to further the research, a team of doctors and supporters are continuing his work.

“We might have the cure to cancer, and other blood-born illnesses,” Mark says enthusiastically. “But the $250,000 grant will initiate a major outreach and awareness campaign for the foundation, letting the world know about John’s work, and accelerating their search for a cure without side effects.”

Over in Racine, Wisconsin, Carla Fernandez visited Mitchell Middle School for Kim Wendt’s Construction for Instruction groundbreaking ceremony, which will completely transform the school’s outdated science classrooms into an interactive learning center. Not only was she able to see the project firsthand, Carla got to hear Kim’s story.

“Kim’s a total go-getter,” said Carla. “In between ripping down dry wall, separating metals for the scrap yard and serving kringle- Racine’s most distinguished pastry- to volunteers, she sat down with me to reminisce about her Refresh Project campaign.” Kim said participating in the Pepsi Refresh Project brought her community together in an unprecedented way.

“When I told my students that we were competing against other projects across the entire nation, they didn’t believe we could do it,” said Kim. “After winning, they now know that anything is possible.”

But it wasn’t easy. She even collaborated with people in “high” places. “I was flying to Los Angeles for spring break with a friend, and convinced the flight attendants to make an announcement over the intercom while I passed out pencils and information,” says Kim. “Who knows if they voted, but whatever it was, it worked!”

Grant manager Bonnie Oliva had the privilege of talking to Anthony DiNicola, a sophomore from Burlington, CT, who was born with Cerebral Palsy and attended Camp Tadma in Bozrah, CT to help with his condition. DiNicola received a $50,000 grant from Pepsi Refresh, which he plans to use to help rebuild the camp where he spent his youth.

“While Anthony was at Camp Tadma, he participated in activities such as swimming and archery, which helped him meet other cub scouts,” says Bonnie. “When he got older, he returned to the camp as a lifeguard, happily returning the favor. But when Anthony discovered that Camp Tadma, the very camp that helped him overcome his illness, was in danger of being shut down, he decided to do something about it.  He started a campaign to renovate the waterfront in order to attract more interest to the camp so that it would remain open.”

Now, with the Pepsi grant, Anthony and other camp supporters are going to build a boathouse and a lifeguard tower shaped like a pirate ship. On June 12th, Pepsi Refresh Neighborhoods Ambassador Kyla Fullenwider and GOOD co-founder Max Schorr joined Anthony for a groundbreaking marking the beginning of the renovation.

Check back in with us next week for more updates from all over the Refresh map.