At the beginning of the month, I asked Hot Air readers to pitch in on behalf of Twin Cities Marriage Encounter, a non-profit dedicated to strengthening marriage and building community, in the Pepsi Refresh Challenge.  Pepsi has its Refresh Everything “Good Idea” contest, in which people vote for the best ideas to see which get funding at the end of October. Winning one of the $50,000 grants would put us in excellent shape to continue our ministry to marriages.  While we’ve done pretty well this month, we’re still stuck at #170 on the list, and we need to get into the top 10 to get the highest-level grants.

As many Hot Air readers know, the First Mate and I volunteer our time at Twin Cities Marriage Encounter, serving as weekend leaders as well as the president couple of the board.  We have to rely on contributions to keep this charitable organization in operation, and over the last couple of years, fundraising has been very, very difficult. We would like to be able to retire our debt and boost our scholarship fund so that couples struggling financially can still help improve communication and commitment. After all, tough financial times make communication and commitment all the more difficult.

People can vote for TCME at the Refresh Everything page or right here in this widget, and can cast one vote each day from each computer to which voters have access:

We joke a lot about politics and voting, but in this case, the Chicago Way applies — vote early, vote often, and vote every day!  If you don’t want to register for the contest, simply text “103165″ to Pepsi (73774) from your cell phone every day.

Addendum: My friend Bob Ewing at the Institute for Justice has a charity drive of his own, the Marine Corps Marathon, a week from today.  He’s running barefoot.  Be sure to check out his website for more details on how you can help.