Keep Texas Beautiful (KTB) recently held its 51^st annual State Conference in Georgetown, Texas, from June 11 – 13, with the theme of “Creating Community.” The Irving community was certainly represented well at the conference, with Keep Irving Beautiful (KIB) receiving the Gold Star and Sustained Excellence Awards, and the City of Irving Water Utilities Department and Dr. Roy Vu of North Lake College both taking home First Place awards in the City Government and Educator categories, respectively. The biggest prize of the entire conference was the $310,000 landscape grant awarded to Irving as winner of the Governor’s Community Achievement Award in the Population 10 category (cities of 180,001 and larger). This is the fourth time that Irving has won this prestigious award from the Texas Department of Transportation, with grant money totaling $1,115,000.

In addition to the awards ceremonies, the conference offered attendees from affiliates across the state the opportunity to network with each other, share ideas, and attend a variety of educational sessions, ranging from writing grants to creating recycling programs to beautifying communities through art.

“At Keep Irving Beautiful, we would continue to serve the community regardless of any recognition,” said KIB Board President Jim Scrivner, “but being acknowledged by such an admirable organization as Keep Texas Beautiful is quite an honor, and we appreciate it very much. Gold Star and Sustained Excellence status are representative of a great deal of hard work and collaboration with our many community partners to achieve the results that we do, and the GCAA is an honor shared by our entire city. It was also a pleasure to have nominated two of our outstanding community partners - Water Utilities and Dr. Vu – and see them honored for all they do for Irving.”

Keep Irving Beautiful is a non-profit organization dedicated to educating our community about litter abatement, recycling, and beautification to help preserve the health and promote the social and economic prosperity of our city. As an award-winning affiliate of Keep America Beautiful and Keep Texas Beautiful, Keep Irving Beautiful reaches out to all sectors of our city including government, business, church, cultural, educational, neighborhood and civic organizations.  If you are interested in volunteering with KIB, or making your activity a “green event,” please go to Keep Irving Beautiful, or call (972) 721-2175.