Irving Community Honored at Keep Texas Beautiful Conference

Irving, TX, June 26, 2016 --(PR.com)-- Keep Irving Beautiful (KIB) and several of their community partners were recently honored at the 49th Annual Keep Texas Beautiful State Conference, held June 20 – 22 in Sugar Land, Texas. The theme of this year’s conference was “Keeping Texas Beautiful – How Sweet It Is,” with educational sessions covering a variety of topics in the areas of litter prevention, community beautification and recycling. KIB Coordinator Rick Hose and staff member Julie Schmitt attended the conference and accepted awards on behalf of the affiliate and partners. At the Governor’s Community Achievement Awards (GCAA) banquet on Tuesday evening, KIB was recognized with the award of Sustained Excellence for the ninth year in a row. This award is given to affiliates that score a 90 or higher on their GCAA applications for three consecutive years. Irving, a previous GCAA winner in 1997, 2010 and 2014, submitted a detailed executive summary and portfolio highlighting the many great things that occurred in the city during the previous year in seven different categories. At the Affiliate Recognition Breakfast on Wednesday, KIB once again received the Gold Star Award, the highest level an affiliate can achieve.

KIB also submitted applications for several partners, who were honored at a luncheon on Wednesday. The Rambler Newspaper received 3rd place in the Media category, while Verizon’s Irving office received a 3rd place Ebby Halliday and Maurice Acers Business and Industry Award in the State/National category and a 1st Place Innovation Award. In the Ruthe Jackson Youth Leadership Awards, Alpha Zeta Eta, the Phi Theta Kappa Chapter at North Lake College, took 1st place in the College/University category.

“The annual Keep Texas Beautiful conference attracts people from across the state and nation, including affiliates, vendors and sponsors, who share a love of Texas,” said KIB Board President Jim Scrivner. “We are very proud that our community continues to uphold the ideals of the KTB mission to engage and educate Texans to take responsibility for improving their environment, and are grateful that our community’s efforts are recognized with these awards.”

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. To find out how you can volunteer, go to www.keepirvingbeautiful.org or call the KIB office at 972-721-2175.