Demi Moore Wins Pepsi Refresh Celebrity Challenge

It was an epic showdown: Kevin Bacon vs. Demi Moore. Superstars for doing good, battling it out to gather their fans to vote in support of their chosen causes. In the end, it all came down to social media: Twitter-master Moore was able to rally the votes to beat Bacon in the Pepsi Refresh Celebrity Challenge.

What exactly does that mean? Simple: Moore's chosen charity, the New York City-based human trafficking organization, GEMS Girls Educational & Mentoring Services — the nation's largest non-profit organization designed to empower American girls and young women who have experienced commercial sexual exploitation and domestic trafficking — will receive $250,000 to bolster their mission.

"The Pepsi Refresh Grant will allow GEMS to train 10 former victims as outreach workers and employ them to go back to their community and refresh the lives of thousands of victimized girls," Moore said in a press release announcing the award Monday afternoon. "I believe the work that GEMS is doing is nothing short of heroic!"

Moore is a longtime anti-human-trafficking advocate. Along with her husband, Ashton Kutcher, she even formed her own nonprofit, The DNA Foundation, as a way to force sex slavery out into the spotlight and help protect the freedom of the world's most vulnerable citizens.

"I am thrilled that GEMS has gained powerful allies in Demi Moore and The DNA Foundation and honored to be the beneficiary of a Pepsi Refresh Grant," GEMS Founder and Executive Director Rachel Lloyd (left) said in the press release. "The grant will support us in the important work of transforming survivors of domestic trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation into future leaders."

For his efforts, Bacon won't walk away empty handed: Pepsi will award his SixDegrees.org a $100,000 grant, which the star will use to distribute thousands of $20 SixDegree.org Good Cards — gift cards that individuals can use to support a charity of their choice.

Bacon's and Moore's ideas were just two of the thousands of innovative, optimistic ideas for which the Pepsi Refresh Project will award more than $20 million in 2010.

To learn more, or to apply for a grant, visit www.refresheverything.com.

Read Tonic's interview with Sinead O'Connor all about her support of GEMS here.

Photos by PR Photos, and courtesy GEMS