Bowl Associates get enough votes for grant

REDLANDS - The Associates of the Redlands Bowl toasted their newgrant with Pepsi at their board meeting Monday.

The Associates finished in the top 10 in an Internet votingcampaign May 31 through the Pepsi Refresh Project, winning $25,000.The grant will be used for Redlands Community Music Associationchildren's programs.

"We're thrilled at the extra things we're going to be able todo," said program director Marsha Gebara. Details will be ironed outand disclosed later.

Bowl board member Bryan Hartnell said community ownership wasjust as important as winning the money.

"Every time we turn around we meet someone who says, 'I told myfriends (to go online and vote"' he said.

"It's fabulous to see the community come together and showsupport for the Bowl," said Redlands Community Music Associationexecutive director Beverly Noerr.

Ruth Henricks, who works for Hartnell's law firm, enlistedvolunteers to input votes and follow up with supporters. She andothers made a final push over Memorial Day weekend, Hartnell said.

"I don't think she went home - she pulled one or two all-nighters," he said.

Supporters sought votes through e-mails, Facebook, Twitter andword of mouth, Bowl Associates president Susan Sequeira said. Localbusinesses like Augie's Coffee House and Oscar's Mexican Restaurantput up posters - Augie's offered a discount on coffee to those whoused their computers to vote.

Students put up posters at school, and volunteers passed outfliers at events like Market Night and Martha Green's cooking class,Sequeira said.

Sequeira said she and other Bowl volunteers were heartened andreinvigorated by the broad range of support they received.

"Everyone can have an equal part in this we had so many highschool kids, a lot of older people," she said.

A tally would show votes from all over the world, she said.Hartnell said Bowl volunteers voted for other arts organizations inthe running.

"Around the U.S., Redlands is responsible for four other majorprojects," he said.

The campaign, which started April 1, received a one-monthextension after finishing in the top 100, Hartnell said. They gainedmomentum and stayed in the top five much of May, Hartnell said, thendropped in the final week.

"It took a full two months to get the ramp up," Sequeira said."It also gave us more publicity and excitement and word of mouth."

Henricks found out about the grant at a conference in Temecula inlate February. She and two others raced to apply within hours oflearning they were eligible.

Sequeira said the Associates thanked Henricks at their meetingMonday.

"She thought outside the box - it was more than I could havehoped for," Sequeira said.

She said she hopes the momentum carries over to the Bowl benefitgala July 10.

Daily Facts archives contributed to this report.

E-mail Staff Writer Joy Juedes at jjuedes@redlandsdailyfacts.com