• CEO Q&A
• Profile
• Governance
•  Environment
  • Environmental policy statement
  • Using water wisely
  • Winning by losing
  • Clean and green
  • Lightening up
  • Packaging responsibility
  • The road to zero
•  Our Employees
  • Working at PBG
  • Diversity with a difference
  • What does it take to be admired?
  • A holistic approach to employee health
•  Our Community
  • Energizing community giving
  • Volunteer spotlight: West Philadelphia
  • Volunteer spotlight: Michigan and Minnesota
  • Volunteer spotlight: Albany, NY
  • Corporate philanthropy with a personal touch
• GRI Index

Kids find a safe haven and scholarships

Young people in West Philadelphia now have a new reason to check out the local YMCA.

Thanks to a partnership between the PBG team in Philadelphia and the local Brown’s ShopRite supermarket chain, kids have a safe place to hang out at the Y in “The Pepsi Family Room...presented by ShopRite.” The room offers a sanctuary from the violence and other dangers that often lurk in the streets outside.

The Pepsi Family Room at the West Philadelphia Y hosts programs such as after-school study, educational and professional support, community gatherings and teen discussion sessions. PBG also sponsors a program through which five eighth-graders will be given the opportunity to earn $1,000 incentive scholarships for living up to their academic promise throughout high school. PBG employees are mentoring the students.

“Our team was looking for new ways to partner with the Philadelphia community,” says Dave Fitts, Vice President and General Manager of PBG’s Philadelphia Market Unit, and one of the first mentors to sign up. “The Family Room provides diverse opportunities to help local kids in a meaningful way.”

At PBG, the commitment to building the Family Room was a team effort. Rich Bloom, Customer Marketing Manager, volunteered to work with an interior designer to draw up plans for a room that would be a magnet for local kids, complete with wide-screen TVs, computers and comfortable furniture. To ensure the Family Room’s completion, other employees chipped in to help cover costs and The PBG Foundation made a financial donation.

A community magnet

The room opened with much fanfare and community involvement on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday in January 2008. “It was a big hit with local kids right away,” says Tammy Sumpter, Vice President of Marketing for PBG’s Atlantic Business Unit. “One unexpected benefit was seeing it used by seniors as a social center while the kids were in school.”

Wrenton Wright, Multicultural and Community Sales Manager for PBG in Philadelphia, checks in frequently to see how people are using the room. “It’s so gratifying to see families and kids enjoying a place that we helped build. The Family Room at the Y is something we all take a lot of pride in.”

*Answer: (B) Peace Corps

Did you know...*

The U.S. government asked the YMCA for help in founding which program?
A  Head Start
B  Peace Corps
C  Air Traffic Control System
D  Social Security