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    Keep Irving Beautiful continued its tradition of partnering with the Irving Family YMCA for “America Recycles Day,” a nationwide program sponsored by Keep America Beautiful.  KIB supplied the City of Irving blue bags along with fliers which explained what types of materials could or could not be recycled, and the seniors group supplied the energy. They began bringing in recyclable materials at the beginning of November, and KIB weighed and recorded the amounts.  When all was tallied, the seniors had recycled 613 pounds of material which was diverted from the landfill.  Across the country, thousands of volunteers were also participating and took a recycling pledge to continue recycling throughout the year.

     KIB visited the YMCA on Friday, November 21, to thank the seniors and present a copy of the official America Recycles Day Proclamation from President Obama. The proclamation calls upon all Americans to strengthen their “reduce, reuse and recycle” efforts by learning what can be recycled, reducing their personal waste and increasing their own recycling, and encouraging at least one other person to take the recycling pledge.  To date, nearly 50,000 people have taken the pledge, which is available at http://americarecyclesday.org/pledge.

     KIB Board member Rachel Torrez-Moon commented on the spirit of the event.  “While the official America Recycles Day is November 15, KIB encourages everyone to make recycling a part of everyday life,” he said.  “The seniors here at the YMCA look forward to collecting their recyclables, and we enjoy celebrating their results.  They do a great job, and deserve to be acknowledged.”

     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. As an award winning affiliate of Keep America Beautiful and Keep Texas Beautiful, Keep Irving Beautiful reaches out to and partners with all sectors of our city including government, business, church, cultural, educational, neighborhood and civic organizations.  For more information or to find out how your group can participate in a volunteer event, please go to the KIB website, www.keepirvingbeautiful.org, or call the KIB office at 972-721-2175.

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Keep Irving Beautiful (KIB) and the North Lake College Service Learning Program partnered with the City of Irving Parks and Recreation Department for a Veterans Day project at Senter Park.  On Tuesday, November 11, volunteers and KIB staff painted upstairs at the center, adding coats of cream, and very fittingly on this holiday, “rich navy” paint.  Senter Park, Irving’s first recreation center, has been a special focus for KIB over the past few years, and they have partnered with several different groups for projects both indoors and outdoors.

 

KIB Coordinator Rick Hose found it fitting to hold a service project on the day when we honor our veterans.  “On Veterans Day, we pay tribute those who have given great service to our country,” he said.  “We feel it is important to offer opportunities to our volunteers to give back to their communities on a local level.  That volunteer spirit is part of what makes our country so great.”

 

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. As an award winning affiliate of Keep America Beautiful and Keep Texas Beautiful, Keep Irving Beautiful reaches out to and partners with all sectors of our city including government, business, church, cultural, educational, neighborhood and civic organizations.  If you are interested in volunteering with KIB, please go to www.keepirvingbeautiful.org, or call the KIB office at 972-721-2175.

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The City of Irving’s Tree Farm at Mountain Creek Preserve has 41 more trees now, thanks to the generosity of United Parcel Service (UPS) and the UPS Foundation.  Earlier this year, Keep Irving Beautiful (KIB) applied for and received a $5,000 community planting grant funded by the UPS Foundation through a partnership with Keep America Beautiful.  This was used to purchase native tree varieties from the Texas Trees Foundation. On Saturday, November 8, seven volunteers, who gave twenty-two hours of service, along with Parks Department and KIB staff, planted those trees at the tree farm. They will remain at the farm for several years, and later be used to replace trees as they are needed in the city’s parks.

 

The UPS Foundation, founded in 1951, is the philanthropic arm of UPS.  Since launching their Global Forestry Initiative in 2011, they have planted more than 3 million trees across 47 countries to support environmental sustainability.  KIB’s grant was one of 30 awarded to Keep America Beautiful affiliates in 2014, with the goal of planting, protecting and preserving trees in urban and rural areas.  Irving city councilman Allan Meagher, who is a UPS employee, was the liaison between KIB and UPS for this project.

 

KIB Board member Karen Harmon, who also serves on the city’s Tree Board, remarked on the project by saying, “Since becoming a Tree City USA city, Irving has increased its emphasis on planting and preserving its native trees.  This project is a great example of that, as well as one of partnership.  Today’s event was made possible by KIB partnering with the UPS Foundation, Keep America Beautiful, the Texas Trees Foundation, the Parks Department, and North Lake College students, who all came here for the purpose of helping ensure that our tree population will be replenished in the future.”

 

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. As an award winning affiliate of Keep America Beautiful and Keep Texas Beautiful, Keep Irving Beautiful reaches out to and partners with all sectors of our city including government, business, church, cultural, educational, neighborhood and civic organizations.  If you are interested in volunteering with KIB, please go to www.keepirvingbeautiful.org, or call the KIB office at 972-721-2175.

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Friday evening, October 24, the grounds of the Irving Family YMCA were transformed into the annual Fall Festival, with hundreds of attendees dressed in costumes reflecting the theme of “Disney Heroes and Villains.”  Keep Irving Beautiful was there to help make this a “Green Event” by providing recycling stations throughout the area, along with signs in English and Spanish reminding everyone to put trash and recyclables in their proper receptacles. KIB also had a table with a spinning wheel where visitors answered questions about the environment.  Prizes were recycled books, generously donated by the Friends of the Irving Public Library.   Four North Lake College Service Learning students who are working with KIB this semester gave 12.5 hours of volunteer time by running the table, monitoring the recycling and keeping the grounds litter free.

 

Board member Rachel Moon also represented KIB at the event, and had this to say about the evening.  “The YMCA is a great organization, and one of our longtime partners, that does so much good in the community.  The Fall Festival is a wonderful and safe way for families to enjoy this time of year, and we at KIB are happy that they ask us to be a part of it.  It’s not only fun, but also educational.”

 

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. As an award winning affiliate of Keep America Beautiful and Keep Texas Beautiful, Keep Irving Beautiful reaches out to and partners with 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 next event a “green event” please go to www.keepirvingbeautiful.org, or call the KIB office at 972-721-2175.

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The bible study group from Irving Bible Church (I.B.C.) along with North Lake College service learning students partnered with the City of Irving Parks & Recreation Department and Keep Irving Beautiful (KIB) for a beautification project at Fritz Petting Farm. The volunteers brought not only their cheerful can do attitude but also some wonderful weather. The group had a perfect sunny October morning to add a fresh coat of paint to the multi-rail metal fence at the entrance to the petting farm. In addition to the entrance area they were also able to paint some internal fencing that houses the animals. The 14 adult volunteers donated 42 hours of service helping to make the petting farm a more beautiful location for visitors to enjoy.                            

 

Keep Irving Beautiful Board Member Arnold Martin, who also serves as the committee chair for the faith outreach division stated that “partnering with groups like the Irving Bible Church can and does make a difference in our community. When you add that volunteer spirit from I.B.C. with the energy from the college students good results are going to happen. We would like to thank Jan and Patrick Moody with I.B.C. for coordinating the volunteers and also the Parks Department for helping us plan this worthwhile project.”

 

Keep Irving Beautiful is an award-winning, grassroots, non-profit leadership organization dedicated to educating community members about litter abatement, recycling and beautification in order to help preserve the health and promote the social and economic prosperity of our city.  For information on how you can become involved in volunteering with KIB, please go to www.keepirvingbeautiful.org, or call the KIB office at 972-721-2175.

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Keep Irving Beautiful board and staff members Margie Stipes, Rachel Torrez-Moon, Julie Schmitt and Rick Hose recently completed the annual city-wide Community Appearance Index Survey.  Each October, a group of four scorers drives the exact same nine routes in the city, which have been divided into four areas.  The areas are scored on a 1 to 4 scale based on how much litter is seen, with 1 being very clean, and 4 being extremely littered. The averages are then calculated and compared to the baseline data from the initial survey in 2001. This year’s results showed that litter has decreased by 30% over the past thirteen years. 

  “The final numbers back up the initial visual impression that we had when we were doing the survey, which is that overall litter has definitely decreased,” said board member Margie Stipes.  “We’d like to think that KIB’s tradition of partnering with our residents and various City of Irving departments is paying off with a cleaner, less littered community.  The City’s Litter Team and Litter Hotline Program have greatly contributed to improving our community’s appearance.  KIB-sponsored programs that focus on litter abatement, such as our Adopt-a-Spot program,  gets families, schools, businesses, youth and faith groups involved in keeping areas clean and beautiful, and our land and waterway cleanups raise awareness of how important it is to put trash in its proper place and recycle what we can.”

  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. As an award winning affiliate of Keep America Beautiful and Keep Texas Beautiful, Keep Irving Beautiful reaches out to and partners with all sectors of our city including government, business, church, cultural, educational, neighborhood and civic organizations.  For more information, please go to the KIB website, www.keepirvingbeautiful.org, or call the KIB office at 972-721-2175.

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For the past twelve years, usually on a Tuesday in October, the Irving-based VHA family of companies has given their employees a day off work and has sent them into their respective communities to work with non-profit organizations for a day of service.  This is a nation-wide program, and here in Irving, Keep Irving Beautiful has been proud to partner with VHA, Inc. for the past six years in this endeavor known as “Community Day.”  This year’s project on October 14 involved painting the interior of the first floor at Senter Park Recreation Center.  Fourteen employees of the VHA, Inc. family, which in addition to VHA includes Novation, Provista and aptitude, gave a total of 42 hours of service in making Irving’s original rec center brighter and more inviting to all who visit and enjoy the amenities it has to offer.

“Whenever we partner with VHA, it is always a rewarding experience,” said KIB board member Rachel Moon.  “They are devoted to making a positive impact not just on the hospitals they serve across the country, but also in their own backyard by encouraging employees to give back to the communities where they work, and where many of them live.  Community Day is a great idea that I wish all companies would embrace.  Employee volunteers enjoy getting out of the office and spending time with colleagues in a different activity than their usual routine, and the community is greatly benefitted by their efforts.”

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. As an award winning affiliate of Keep America Beautiful and Keep Texas Beautiful, Keep Irving Beautiful reaches out to and partners with all sectors of our city including government, business, church, cultural, educational, neighborhood and civic organizations.  If you are interested in volunteering with KIB, please go to www.keepirvingbeautiful.org, or call the KIB office at 972-721-2175.

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Keep Irving Beautiful’s signature cleanup event, the 23rd Annual Trash Bash, was held at T.W. Richardson Grove Park on September 27, a beautiful Saturday morning to be outdoors enjoying the city’s Campion Trails and helping the environment.  A record 619 volunteers participated, giving over 1,800 hours of volunteer service in collecting 2,240 pounds of trash and 860 pounds of recyclables.  Following the event, a hot dog lunch was served, with chips donated by Frito-Lay.  Irving resident and naturalist Jon Halsey has become a much-anticipated feature at KIB cleanups, with his collection and displays of fossils and artifacts collected from the area over many years.  Another familiar face, Barry Allen, also entertained and educated the volunteers with his assortment of snakes. For the third year, the Trash Bash was held on National Public Lands Day, with an estimated 175,000 volunteers engaged in similar projects across the country. 

 

Events like this could not be possible without partnerships, such as those with numerous City of Irving Departments.  The Parks Department reserved the location and provided logistic support, Solid Waste Services provided a roll-off dumpster and weighed the bags collected, and Corporate Communications sent an ICTN crew to video the action and interview the participants.  Employee volunteers from the Code Enforcement, Health and Human Services and Human Resources Departments teamed up to prepare and serve the lunch.  The Mayor’s office also provided an official proclamation declaring September 27 as “Trash Bash Day in Irving.” Sponsors who contributed to the success of the event included VHA, Inc., PlayTri, Oncor, Frito-Lay, AcuGraphics, Fast Signs Las Colinas, and the Rambler and Burb Newspapers.  Items for the prize drawing were generously donated by the Irving Family YMCA, Twin Wells Golf, Glory House, Arnold Brothers Forest Products, Magician Maxwell Blade, and the Trinity River Kayak Company.     

 

Members of North Lake College’s Alpha Zeta Eta chapter of the Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society were very active in recruiting volunteers from North Lake as well as from chapters at other campuses.   They helped with every part of the event, from set up to tear down, by directing traffic, signing in volunteers, passing out supplies and T-shirts, and working in litter crews.  They also came up with the idea of having a canned food drive in conjunction with the cleanup, so volunteers were asked to bring a canned item to the event.  KIB partnered with the Bear Creek Community Church Food Pantry and Sister Sonja Washington to collect 298 non-perishable food items to help feed those in need.

 

KIB Board Member Dr. Yolanda Romero, who also sponsors the North Lake Phi Theta Kappa chapter, volunteered at the event and had this to say.  “We had a great turnout in 2013, but this year is even better.  It’s inspiring to see such diversity among the volunteers, in terms of ages, faiths and backgrounds.  They all joined together in the common cause of keeping our community a clean safe place to live, work and play. The addition of the canned food drive brought another positive element to the event which shows that we care about our people as much as we do about our environment.”

 

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. As an award winning affiliate of Keep America Beautiful and Keep Texas Beautiful, Keep Irving Beautiful reaches out to and partners with 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 www.keepirvingbeautiful.org, or call the KIB office at 972-721-2175.

 

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Keep Irving Beautiful and the City of Irving Parks Department partnered with the Irving-based Celebration of Life Center as well as affiliated congregations in Dallas – the Center for Spiritual Living, the Little House and HeartSpace – for a cleanup of Trinity View Park on Saturday, September 13.  Volunteers, led by coordinator Nance Elmore of the Irving center, picked up trash and recyclables from around the park, including areas along the tree lines and the small creeks that run through the park.  Because of the recent rains, trash was washed into the lower-lying area, and these volunteers were able to keep it from getting into the nearby Elm Fork of the Trinity River.  The 39 volunteers combined for a total of 118 hours of service, and collected 165 pounds of trash and 113 pounds of recyclable materials.  KIB was assisted by North Lake College Service Learning students, who helped with signing in, distributing supplies such as litter pickers, safety vests, gloves and bags, and weighing materials collected. 

 

“It’s inspiring to see people from different areas of the Metroplex coming to Irving for a morning of fellowship and working together to help make a positive impact in our community environment,” said KIB Board President Scott Wilson.  “We appreciate their efforts very much.  The KIB board and staff always look forward to working with any groups or individuals who are willing to give of their time to make our city more beautiful and litter-free.”

 

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. As an award winning affiliate of Keep America Beautiful and Keep Texas Beautiful, Keep Irving Beautiful reaches out to and partners with all sectors of our city including government, business, faith, cultural, educational, neighborhood and civic organizations.  If you are interested in volunteering with KIB, please go to www.keepirvingbeautiful.org, or call the KIB office at 972-721-2175.

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Keep Irving Beautiful invites the community to attend the 23rd Annual Trash Bash on Saturday, September 27, 2014 from 9 a.m. to noon. The location for this year’s event is T.W. Richardson Grove Park, 333 E. Interstate Highway 635 (LBJ), at the northeast corner of Valley View and I-635. The cleanup is once again being held on National Public Lands Day, and will be one of many similar events occurring across the country that day. The nation’s largest single-day volunteer event for public lands raises awareness of environmental issues like litter, and encourages everyone to lend a hand to make a difference in their community. Volunteers of all ages are invited to participate. KIB will provide supplies such as litter pickers, trash and recycle bags and gloves. Lunch will be provided after the cleanup, as well as music and prize drawings.

 

This Trash Bash will also include a canned food drive to help feed those in our community who are in need.  Each volunteer is asked to bring a canned or other non-perishable food item to the event.  These will be donated to the Bear Creek Community Church Food Pantry at 2700 Finley Road, Irving 75062.

 

Please register at http://www.cityofirving.org/KIB/KIB-2014-trash-bash.asp by September 17, 2014. For more information, call the Keep Irving Beautiful office at (972) 721-2175