It’s been three months since Sparkling Ice called on fans to nominate their personal heroes as part of the brand’s Cheers to Heroes contest. Today, we’re excited to share that the brand has selected three heroic finalists who are now in the running to win the $10,000 grand prize.
Between April and June, Sparkling Ice fans submitted over 3,000 nominations from over 1,700 cities across the country. These nominations highlighted everyday heroes ranging from first line responders, community activists, teachers, office managers, doctors, nurses, friends, neighbors and more, for the notable and heroic work they’ve done in their communities.
Now, Sparkling Ice is asking America to join them in celebrating these everyday heroes by voting for their favorite finalist. From now through July 31st, you can visit www.sparklingice.com/cheerstoheroes to cast your vote. The winner will be announced on August 7th and the nominator of the winning hero will receive a $500 prize. Voters will also be entered into a drawing for a chance to win a $50 gift card.
Meet Our Finalists
Kathy Hewitt – Lake Mary, FL
Kathy Hewitt’s work began with a promise to her nephew, who was deployed to Afghanistan, that she would send him a care package every month. In honor of her nephew’s safe return, Kathy founded Just Our Soldiers’ Helpers (J.O.S.H.). The mission of J.O.S.H. is to increase the morale of deployed U.S. service members in all branches of the military. They do this by providing service members with care packages containing quality products that are not readily available during deployment. Since it was founded, J.O.S.H. has shipped over 110,000 pounds of food and hygiene products and in 2019 alone, they shipped 2,650 care packages.
Rosako Bailey – Bedford, TX
Rosako Bailey runs a soul food BBQ restaurant in Bedford, TX. One day, he found a homeless veteran looking in his trash for food and brought the vet into his restaurant to give him a meal. Since then, Rosako has made it his mission to serve and give back to the homeless veteran population. He created his own program, Feed a Veteran, where customers donate money to support a free meal for any homeless veteran that enters his restaurant. In addition, a few times a year, Rosako closes his restaurant to the public and serves meals to the homeless. This past year, he was able to serve meals to more than 500 people.
Millie Garcia – Kissimmee, FL
Millie Garcia is the founder of Overflowing Fountain Outreach Ministries, Corp. – a nonprofit organization that focuses on homeless outreach in her hometown of Kissimmee, Florida. Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, Millie and her team have been working tirelessly in her community handing out bread, sandwiches, juice, water, clothing, etc. to the homeless/less-fortunate population. Millie’s continuous goal is to spread a message of hope, love, and compassion to the world.