The Octagon Center for the Arts, a community art center located here in the beautiful Big 12 university town of Ames, Iowa, needs your help!  It has applied for a Pepsi grant for $50,000 to help renovate the former Wheatsfield Coop grocery store space – a street-level storefront which it has long owned but which is clearly showing its age - into a gallery space for community artists.

Your vote on the Pepsi RefreshEverything site can help! 

As a former Octagon Board of Trustees member, I’d love to see this grant happen.  The Octagon is a vital member of the Ames Main Street Cultural District, and a fresh, renovated community gallery right on street level would be a fantastic addition to the community.

But alas!  The Pepsi grant process works via a voting process, with only top vote-earning projects earning actual funds.  So please help – it just takes a moment and your vote may help make a tremendous different!  You don’t have to be a member of the Octagon, nor even an Ames resident; just someone who agrees that this looks like a good idea and is willing to click the “vote” button!!

Here’s the link: http://pep.si/9wvXO6 ~ thanks for voting!