Keep Irving Beautiful and several community partners were recently honored at the 46th Annual Keep Texas Beautiful Conference, held in San Antonio from June 17 – 20. The theme for the conference was “Texas Today. Texas Tomorrow. Keep Texas Beautiful,” and the goals were three-fold: to celebrate and recognize the achievements of youth and community leaders, civic groups, businesses and governments; to offer an array of educational sessions that relay pertinent, innovative approaches to community beautification, waste reduction and litter prevention; and to provide unparalleled networking opportunities and exciting presentations from knowledgeable experts and those with a passion for the environment.
KIB received second place in the largest population category for the Governor’s Community Achievement Award, a partnership with the Texas Department of Transportation and Keep Texas Beautiful which honors communities with the best grassroots environmental programs in the state. KIB also received the award of Sustained Excellence for the sixth consecutive year and achieved Gold Star Affiliate status. Long-time KIB partner, VHA, Inc., was awarded First Place in the Ebby Halliday and Maurice Acers Business and Industry Category for their outstanding work in improving the community environment. The City of Irving Public Works Department received 3rd place in the Government category, and Margie Stipes was recognized with a 3rd place in the O.P. Schnabel Senior Citizen Category for her lifetime of service.
KIB staff member Julie Schmitt, who attended the conference along with Coordinator Rick Hose and Board Member Margie Stipes, had this to say about the experience. “It’s always nice to be honored by our state organization for our efforts throughout the year,” she said, “and we in turn like to nominate our partners like VHA, the Public Works Department and Margie so that they also can be recognized for what they do. In addition to the awards, the KTB conference offers us an opportunity to share ideas and learn from other affiliates across the state so that we can implement new ideas into our programming.”
Keep Irving Beautiful is a non-profit, grassroots, leadership organization dedicated to educating our community about litter abatement, recycling, and beautification in order to help preserve the health and promote the social and economic prosperity of our city. For more information, please go to the website www.keepirvingbeautiful.org or call the KIB office at 972-721-2175.