By Donald W. Meyers

| The Salt Lake Tribune

Brent Crane is hoping the Food and Care Coalition will have the same luck Utah Food Bank did with social media.

The Utah County coalition is a Pepsi Refresh Project Grant finalist, now in 31st place for a $250,000 grant. Crane says the money would help launch a homeless shelter for 38 people.

At a glance

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How to vote

There are three ways to vote for the Food and Care Coalition’s proposal: text message, Facebook and website.

Text 105571 to 73774 every day throughout January.

On Facebook, search for the Pepsi Refresh voting application and click allow and “Like.” Then click the tab “Pepsi Refresh” and “Support ideas on Facebook.” From there, search for “Friends of the Coalition” and click the vote button.

Go to www.refresheverything.com and sign in using an e-mail address or Facebook account. Search for Friends of the Coalition and click the vote button.

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In December, the food bank won $1 million from Wal-Mart after getting the most "likes" in a Facebook contest.

Each month, Pepsi solicits nominations for community-service projects to receive grants ranging from $5,000 to $250,000. Then, the public can vote for one of the 1,000 finalists through their cell phones, the official website or their Facebook accounts. And they can vote every day.

Crane said the coalition hopes to use the money to finish a project it started in 2008, before the recession dried up donations for the shelter at 299 E. 900 South. The shelter is not a long-term housing solution, but a place people can go to while they get back on their feet.

"Clients will come in and stay as long as they need," Crane said.

To get the $250,000, the coalition has to be among the top two vying for the grant. Those slots are now occupied by a Delaware-based group raising money for a gene-therapy treatment for Sanfilippo Syndrome, and a Wisconsin group that wants to build a baseball diamond in honor of a child killed in a drunken-driving accident.

Crane is hopeful after the project jumped from 186th to 31st in the rankings in about two weeks.

Provo Mayor John R. Curtis promoted the effort at his recent State of the City address, and Municipal Councilwoman Sherrie Hall Everett used her Facebook page to encourage people to vote for the coalition.

dmeyers@sltrib.com twitter.com/donaldwmeyers