Keep America Beautiful hosted its national convention in Washington, D.C. earlier this month with the theme – “Together is Beautiful”. Although our local affiliate, Keep Alliance Beautiful, did not have anyone on hand for the occasion, the national organization honored us with its President’s Circle Recognition Award for 2024.
Carlie Foster, KAB education coordinator, submitted most of the paperwork this year. She explained that the award – signed by President and CEO Jennifer Lawson – signifies a certain level of commitment and dedication to an affiliate’s local area throughout the past year. It recognizes exemplary performance by certified affiliates of Keep America Beautiful in creating clean, green, and beautiful communities.
Keep Alliance Beautiful Executive Director Kathy Worley emphasized the affiliate has been recognized with the President’s Circle Award for 20 years. “It is important to our grant writing that we can say that we are an affiliate in good standing with Keep America Beautiful standards,” she said.
Among the highlights from 2024: a record 915,284 pounds of material processed in the recycling center at 1071/2 Cheyenne Ave.; and assistance in the return of a city-wide cleanup day. She also expounded on the success of the BlackOps in schools because it’s “a big program,” and educational/fun opportunities for youth at the Alliance Public Library, illustrating KAB’s community outreach. Carlie uploaded the litter index score as well.
Assuming more responsibility for reporting what she did and what else went on at KAB this past year, Carlie discussed the capabilities of the keepamericabeautiful.com website and the affiliate hub therein. “The website is cool because you can be very interactive with other people – what they’re doing in their communities. Like a Facebook (group) in a sense,” she said. “This is a way to see what worked in other communities, what brought grant money.”
The website is informative and worth a look for anyone interested in Keep America Beautiful, not just affiliates. Visitors may want to gear up for the “Greatest American Cleanup for America’s 250th”, read about the effort to end littering, or discover corporations who are “partners for change”. Nationwide statistics on the homepage, 5,347,883 hours of volunteering for instance, include data Carlie uploaded.
A session at the national convention in San Diego a year ago expounded on networking possibilities of the affiliate hub. I was curious about how the feature could apply to KAB. Unfortunately, I tend to have tunnel vision on daily operations and tasks at the recycling center and never entered the portal. My default is comparing notes with Nebraska affiliates at the state convention and keeping in contact with several we partner with on a regular basis. Carlie’s use of the technology is exciting with potential to serve our neighbors in new ways.
‘Everyone has a different opinion,” Carlie said, “a different view. (The hub) is a good way to see what’s going on in other communities.”