500 Million Cans, 1 Shared Vision
Boston, Mass. - January 8, 2008 - Pepsi and City Year are uniting on the common ground of service and diversity to engage more young people to give back to their community and country. Pepsi is supporting the work of City Year, Inc., an organization that engages more than one thousand young adults across the country for a year of full-time service as tutors, mentors and role models dedicated to transforming schools, neighborhoods and communities.
To further their shared belief in diverse Americans who join together from all backgrounds to make a difference through service, Pepsi is now issuing 500 million cans that will feature the City Year logo, share core City Year messages such as “Give a Year” and “Make a Difference,” show City Year activities such as teaching reading and painting a mural, and provide a Web site – www.yourcityyear.com – to help more young people, and their friends and family, learn about opportunities to serve with City Year.
The Pepsi cans highlighting City Year promote awareness about the power of young adults engaged in service to make a positive difference in the lives of others, especially to people between the ages of 17 and 24 who are ready to give a year and change the world by joining City Year at one of its 17 domestic sites.
“The PepsiCo Foundation has been honored to work with City Year on service projects around the world,” said Russell Weiner, VP of marketing for Pepsi-Cola North America. “This new partnership between City Year and the Pepsi brand is built on a shared belief that young adults have the power to make a difference, and on the recognition that we can accomplish so much more if we work together to promote service and volunteerism.”
"The ability of young people to change the world is not limited by their energy or idealism, but sometimes it is limited by a lack of awareness about opportunities to do so,” said Michael Brown, City Year, Inc. CEO and Co-Founder. “Our partnership with Pepsi, especially these 500 million cans, is an innovative way to build awareness and support for service, and to inspire more Americans to give their time and energy to strengthen community and country.”
The cans are just one element of a multi-faceted partnership that began seven years ago when City Year and the PepsiCo Foundation first partnered for one service day for 65 employees in New York that has become a week of service engaging more than 1,500 PepsiCo employees on three continents – an expansion that is a testament to a shared commitment to diversity, service and volunteerism.
Contacts:
Alison Franklin
AFranklin@cityyear.org
617-927-2612
Nicole Bradley
nicole.bradley@pepsi.com
914-253-2964