Votes Have Measurable Impact:
and Everyone Gets Ten!
If you had ten votes to cast that would impact your immediate community, or the global community at large, would you use them? Choosing from Health and Wellness, to Neighborhoods, Art and Culture, The Planet or Food and Shelter, these categories in the Pepsi Refresh Everything Campaign have brought up some very compelling projects and widely promising ideas, all seeking various levels of funding. Over the course of this year, 20M dollars will be shared to spark an altruistic American dream, as 32 grants per month will be awarded to those receiving the most online votes.
For example, here is a scenario: One of Waynesville’s very own businesses has launched a creative social enterprise plan to raise awareness while providing critical funding to many different charities annually. On April 1, Studio 33 business owner Diannah Beauregard submitted an application for a $50K Pepsi grant and the process took one month to be available for online voting, but two months to get this close to the finish line. With additional community support and continued support from all of the organizations that will benefit from this initiative, Studio 33 will slide into home stretch by the end of this month. “You have to start voting now, and vote every day for this vision to be realized”. But it’s not just a vision of a small local business impacting community in a positive way, and getting this grant; there is more on the table here. A great deal more.
“It’s not just about the Pepsi, or the grants” says Beauregard, “it’s more about the relationships that are formed along the way, the partnerships of team leaders aligning to support each other and the networking of goodness. I have found new hope in a crippled world by meeting some incredible people with a higher purpose to serve, not to mention the potentials of these giant issues to find optimal resolve through funding. And we as a community in America are being given ten votes each to cast in their favor.”
Diannah has formed several campaigns within the cyber walls of Refresh Everything. From a “Let’s Vote Local, NC Projects” to the recent and most compelling “Medical Research Triangel” (tri-angel or MRT). Beauregard’s ability to strategically form partnerships is demonstrated by the joining of the AIDS Research Alliance that will be funded for a 250K research grant, the International Rett Syndrome Foundation (IRSF) also for a $250K research grant and University of Florida with the Herpes Treatment Coalition for a $50K grant. With Studio 33 positioned at the center, the 3 large medical research groups are joined by a common thread to form the triangle, or tri-angel as she calls it. Diannah believes that this is going to lead to some major breakthroughs in medicine. The world is ready. These things are long overdue.
AIDS Research Alliance is developing a new treatment strategy to overcome a major stumbling block to cure: eliminating all virus from the body. To cure a disease caused by a pathogen, the treatment must eradicate ALL TRACES of the pathogen.
While existing treatments slow the progression of HIV disease, a small amount of virus (or the genetic material needed to create new virus) remains in the body, hiding in pockets or “reservoirs”. In these HIV reservoirs, the virus escapes the reach of even the most powerful anti- HIV drugs. When treatment is interrupted, these reservoirs flood the body with new virus, re-igniting the infection. Thus, no cure is possible without emptying the HIV reservoirs of latent of persistent virus. Today, AIDS Research Alliance is the ONLY research organization developing a drug that targets the HIV reservoirs. TO complete the research, they need several new pieces of lab equipment.
The University of Florida is on board to receive a 50K grant for the testing of a new Herpes Treatment. The proposed project plan outlines experiments in the study that will help to determine if the new ribozyme approach can treat recurrent infections of HSV-1 in the eye. If successful, plans to move forward to develop the treatment for eye infections of humans. In addition, future studies using a similar approach could be developed to treat oral HSV-1 infections, and to develop HSV-2 riboymes as an alternative treatment for genital infections of humans.
The IRSF “Research to Reality Campaign” has promising evidence that the pathway to a cure is clear from 10 years of laboratory research. A genetic disorder, by 18 months of age, robs a seemingly healthy girl of her ability to walk, talk, or take care of herself, going on to suffer additional worsening symptoms like seizures, breathing difficulties and scoliosis. The Rett Syndrome is the most severe from of autism known, affecting only girls. Your vote cast here could open up a treatment protocol, how significant
Diannah’s alchemical formula of this MRT alliance is most compelling and should galvanize everyone to vote. The triangle sits on a well-defined foundation of two grant projects that support children – and our future. Skip Program is lining up for a $250K grant to make dreams of underprivileged children come true, while Lil’ Iguana has designed a program to effectively educated children to keep them safe from harm.
“There’s something bigger going on here” she says in confidence, “this is not about me or my business, it is a much bigger picture and I am in awe to be standing in the center of the structure by bringing this potential to you. NOW YOU MUST VOTE!!! Be the change you want to see in America with 10 minutes or less a day of voting. There is no excuse for you not to be voting. If you don’t have a computer, then surely you can find someone that does.”
Diannah Beauregard has chosen this time to get the Studio Earth Initiative going.
“Timing is everything, and this project just couldn’t wait any longer”. Diannah Beauregard says it has taken too long already, but with a substantial grant from Pepsi for $50K Diannah says she will be able to complete phase one in this first year. With so many nonprofits experiencing budget cuts, this plan outlines a way in which many local agencies can receive annual funding with potential for growth. This also fuels the local economy. Now isn’t that refreshing?
Some of the organizations that are paired with this project include: The Haywood Animal Welfare Association, Haywood County Arts Council, Haywood Habitat for Humanity, Haywood Community College Foundation, Friends of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Manna Food Bank, National Alliance on Mental Illness, Neighbor to Family, North Carolina Autistic Living and Learning, REACH of Haywood County, and yet others yet to be named. Beauregard’s plan will embrace every critical need with a plan to unfold over the next several years in three phases. Each phase serves 11 charities starting with local and expanding globally when complete.
For more information, please follow the blog posts on Studio 33 website, (studio33jewelry.com). Additionally, if you are interested in offering support to this initiative, please feel free to contact Diannah Beauregard by email, at studio33earth@gmail.com. And, remember to vote every day for all of these projects, Studio 33, AIDS Research, Herpes Treatment, Retts, Skip Program and Lil’ Iguana, and be a part of the cure in our society.
STUDIO EARTH 
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