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  • Planet Green Helps Others Speak Out on the Gulf Oil Crisis
  • Citizen Gulf’s National Day of Action
  • Save the Gulf
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  • BlogHer Gulf Auction
  • Ralph Brennan On the Impact of the Gulf Coast Oil Spill
  • Ruth Reichl On the Gulf Coast Recovery
  • New Gulf Coast Coalition Says the Region Is Ready for Takeoff
  • Scientist Says NOAA Needs to Expand Seafood Testing in the Gulf
  • Thousands Come to Eat, Play, Love at Biloxi Seafood Festival
  • White House Chef Visits New Orleans
  • When It Comes to Gulf Seafood, Consumers Still Aren’t Biting
  • Bill in Congress Aims to Aid Fishermen, Fish, and Coastal Jobs
  • Presidential Order Sets Up Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Task Force

Ever wished to win the lottery in hopes of making budget for the month? Well, not-for-profit organizations are apparently making the same wish. And, as the slogan says, they are playing to win.

The organization Distinguished Young Women is the former America’s Junior Miss, a nonprofit scholarship program that recently changed its name. And, in a burst of creativity, the group hopes that the Pepsi Refresh Project will help cover budget shortfalls.

For the past month, Distinguished Young Women has been seeking support for a $250,000 grant through the contest, which is part of an effort by Pepsi to fund ideas that help the Gulf Coast.

Voting for that part of the contest has now ended, but if Distinguished Young Women wins the contest, program officials say the money would be used to pay for the scholarship organization’s 2011 National Finals in Mobile, Alabama, during which people from every state visit the Gulf Coast. The annual event costs at least the amount of the grant and has an economic impact of more than $2 million on the Mobile community each year.

It’s another way people of the Gulf Coast are trying to find innovative ways to fund the recovery efforts and develop a strong economy.

The Food Channel is bringing you recaps of some of the best stories from around the Web that will help us all learn more about the true situation in the Gulf. Stay with us as the story unfolds and let’s see what the future of food may look like in the wake of crisis.