The William Nash Award is named in honor of the man who was instrumental in building Keep America Beautiful’s network of affiliates from the 1970s through the 1990s. The Nash Award recognizes a new affiliate for outstanding achievement in implementing the Keep America Beautiful System.

The William Nash Award exemplifies the affiliate that best implements all areas of focus of the Keep America Beautiful system, said Matthew McKenna, president and CEO of Keep America Beautiful. While still a young affiliate, Keep Greenville County Beautiful has made a significant impact on its community, using national and state grant programs to its full advantage.

Dan Powell’s thought process blossomed from seeing how PalmettoPride, Keep South Carolina and Keep America Beautiful grants and programs could assist him in creating cleaner communities, help him do his job better, and help the Greenville County Planning Department achieve its goals, said Sarah Robinson Lyles, program manager of Keep South Carolina Beautiful. This young affiliate is led by a dynamic young professional who has brought together a team of community representatives and stakeholders to take on important issues. And it’s not afraid to go for big grant and big programs.

Keep Greenville County Beautiful partners with the Greenville County Solid Waste Division, Greenville Technical College and Greater Greenville Sanitation to realize its many community improvement accomplishments, which include the following:

Litter Prevention:

While still in the KAB pre-certification process, KGCB implemented the Cigarette Litter Prevention Program in downtown Greenville. Dan Powell is one the two affiliate directors in South Carolina who continually receives recognition for expertise in conducting the CLPP. In KGCB’s first full year as an affiliate it received CLPP implementation awards, while also serving as a mentor organization to other affiliates working on the program. In 2009, KGCB implemented the CLPP in Greenville, Fountain Inn and Greer. For 2010, the plan was to implement the CLPP in five cities around the county.

Beautification and Community Greening:

Powell has worked with PalmettoPride, Keep South Carolina Beautiful’s parent organization on grant programs including a Tree Grant to beautify the area around Fountain Inn. The affiliate has partnered with local nonprofit organizations such as TreesGreenville and the Greenville County Historic Preservation Commission on important community cleanups and beautification projects.

Recycling / Waste Reduction:

Keep Greenville County Beautiful received a Nestle Waters $10,000 Recycling On the Go grant to implement away-from-home recycling at schools around the County in partnership with Greater Greenville Sanitation and the Greater Greenville Recreation Department. Students and personnel totaled over 23,000 potential new recyclers. Moreover, Keep Greenville County Beautiful will be working with Greenville Technical College to bring the RecycleMania competition to the college campus in 2011. RecycleMania is a friendly 10-week competition and benchmarking tool for college and university recycling programs to promote waste reduction activities to their campus communities.

For a complete list of all 2010 award winners from the 57th national Keep America Beautiful conference, as well as information about its awards program, please visit the Keep America Beautiful Web site at www.kab.org.

Editor’s Note: Photos of this event are available by contacting Larry Kaufman at 203.659.3014 or lkaufman@kab.org.

About Keep America Beautiful, Inc.

Keep America Beautiful, Inc., established in 1953, is the nation’s largest volunteer-based community action and education organization. This national nonprofit forms public-private partnerships and programs that engage individuals to take greater responsibility for improving their community environments. For additional information, visit www.kab.org.

Columbia, SC – Keep America Beautiful, Inc. honored 19 affiliates from South Carolina during their annual conference and awards luncheons December 9 and 10, 2010. Keep Greenville County Beautiful took home the William Nash Award, the top award for a new affiliate. The award honors an affiliate 3 years and younger for best implementing the Keep America Beautiful (KAB) system.

Keep Dorchester County Beautiful and Keep Greenville County Beautiful both received Cigarette Litter Prevention Program awards for implementation of the program in their communities.

EdistoPride received a Great American Cleanup sponsorship award for promoting a sponsor during the three-month cleanup.

Keep South Carolina Beautiful received a Gold Level State Recognition Award.

In addition to these awards, nineteen (19) affiliates received the President Circle Award. The President Circle recognizes affiliates for being in good standing & complying with the annual reports and implementing programs in the three program areas: waste reduction, litter prevention and beautification. Recipients of the President Circle are as follows:

• Keep Oconee Beautiful Association
• Keep Colleton Beautiful
• Keep Greenwood County Beautiful
• Keep York County Beautiful
• Keep North Charleston Beautiful
• Keep Florence Beautiful
• Keep Williamsburg Beautiful
• EdistoPride/Keep Edisto Beautiful
• Keep Greenville County Beautiful
• KAB of Anderson County
• Keep Beaufort County Beautiful
• Keep Charleston Beautiful
• Keep the Midlands Beautiful
• Keep Georgetown Beautiful
• Keep North Myrtle Beach Beautiful
• Keep Dorchester County Beautiful
• Keep Darlington County Beautiful
• Sumter County KAB
• Keep South Carolina Beautiful

Keep South Carolina Beautiful is the state affiliate for KAB and is a program at PalmettoPride. The state affiliate assists the national organization with the local affiliates in the state. There are 24 affiliates in SC and two pre-certified affiliates: Newberry County and Horry County.

For more information on Keep SC Beautiful, please contact Sarah R. Lyles at srobinson@palmettopride.org or at 877-725-7733.

Columbia, SC – PalmettoPride, the state’s anti-litter and beautification organization, honored the 2010-2011 PalmettoPride Grant award winners at a luncheon today held at Seawell’s Banquet Facility in Columbia. In addition to this annual recognition event, PalmettoPride announced a special new awards program and presented winners of the PalmettoPride Spirit Awards.

Speakers at the luncheon included Linda Shadel, Director of Operations for PalmettoPride, and Miss South Carolina Desiree Puglia. The Miss South Carolina organization and PalmettoPride have had a long-standing relationship where current title holders give presentations to schools across the state on the importance of litter prevention and protecting our environment.

The PalmettoPride Grants program presented 112 groups with more than $413,000 in grants in four categories: Community Pride, Education, Enforcement and Keep South Carolina Beautiful. In addition to grant funds, cleanup supplies were given to groups initiating cleanup events in their communities. The PalmettoPride Tree Grant awarded 2,245 trees to 26 groups for beautification projects on public spaces across the state.

Linda Shadel, Director of Operations for PalmettoPride, presented the first annual Spirit Award Winners. The PalmettoPride Spirit Awards honor individuals and groups for their efforts in furthering the mission of PalmettoPride in their four program areas: Education, Enforcement, Awareness and Pickup.

“We’d like to give awards to all our wonderful volunteers and participants every year,” said Shadel. “Since that is logistically challenging, the Spirit Awards give us a chance to recognize a few special stars.”

Recipients of the Spirit Awards are as follows:

Karen Fisher, Individual Education;

Driftwood KAB Kids, North Myrtle Beach, Group Education;

Lt. Jamie Nelson, Spartanburg County Environmental Enforcement, Individual Enforcement;

Hampton County Environmental Enforcement, Group Enforcement;

Julia Hook, The Columbia Star Reporter, Individual Awareness;

WVOC News Team, Columbia, Group Awareness;

Albert Ng, Individual Pickup;

Lowcountry Jeep Club and Palmetto Jeep Club, tie, Group Pickup.

The PalmettoPride Grant program is an annual grant cycle that starts up in August. In addition to fulfilling their grant projects, all grant recipients are required to participate in the Great American Cleanup of South Carolina or Zero Tolerance for Litter Campaign.

A complete list of all grant winners follows this release. For more information on PalmettoPride, please visit www.palmettopride.org.

VOLUNTEERS ARE WANTED TO CREATE A COMMUNITY GARDEN IN THE HARLEM BLUE POND AREA

Activities Include Litter Pickup, Building Improvements and More

Columbia, SC – The City of Bishopville and PalmettoPride are teaming up for community improvement. On March 12, volunteers will come together for a litter pickup and commence the development of a community garden. This event will kick off a citywide initiative to improve the Harlem Blue Pond area. The continuing program will focus on tearing down derelict buildings and building pride in the community.

The activities will begin at 10 a.m. and will conclude at 2:00 p.m. Lunch will be provided free to volunteers.

Volunteers are to meet in the Harlem Blue Pond area at Levy Park.

To volunteer, please contact Jennifer Fisher with PalmettoPride toll-free at 877-725-7733 or Gregg McCutchen with the City of Bishopville at 484-5984.

Volunteers Cleaned Up in the Rain, Finding Less Trash Than Last Year

Columbia, SC – Results from the 4^th annual Francis Marion National Volunteer Cleanup event are in and show a continued reduction in trash in the forest. More than 180 volunteers came out in the rain on Saturday, February 5, 2011, and picked up 7.44 tons of trash.

Over the past four years, event organizers PalmettoPride and the USDA Forest Service have seen the amounts of trash being picked up lessen each year, though volunteer numbers have stayed strong at around the 200 number.

Last year, more than 225 volunteers collected 18 tons of trash, which was almost half of the previous year’s amount.

“We believe that these cleanups are working to keep littering and illegal dumping at bay in the forest,” said Linda Shadel, Director of Operations for PalmettoPride.

Of the 7.44 tons of trash picked up, 1.55 tons were tires. Illegally dumping tires in the forest creates a breeding ground for mosquitoes, leaches toxins into the soil and water, and is totally unnecessary. Tires only have a recycle fee that is paid for when you buy new tires. All one has to do is leave old tires with the business where new tires are purchased or take them to county recycling facilities.

Event hosts included Charleston and Berkeley Counties. Sponsors of the event were Wal-Mart, Coca-Cola, Domino’s, Sewee Outpost, Jack’s Cosmic Dogs, and SEWE.

The Francis Marion National Forest Annual Volunteer Cleanup takes place on the first Saturday in February, rain or shine. For more information on this event, please contact Sarah Lyles at 803-758-6034 or srobinson@palmettopride.org.

Columbia, SC – PalmettoPride, the state’s anti-litter and beautification organization, is pleased to announce that Strayer University – Greenville Campus has sponsored a Palmetto Prideway. By sponsoring a Prideway, Strayer University shows its corporate goodwill to improving the economic and environmental landscape of South Carolina.

Strayer University’s sponsored segment is a two-mile section of I-385 at mile markers 36-38 in Greenville County.

Palmetto Prideway is an interstate cleanup program brought to you by PalmettoPride, SC Department of Corrections and SC Department of Transportation. It was created to give companies across the state a way to boost economic development, foster a cleaner highway system and improve the overall quality of life for South Carolinians.

Since the Prideway program began in 2002, litter has decreased on our interstates by more than 50%. That reduction has been seen across the state on our highways and main Streets. Our business sponsors like Strayer University are leading by example and helping our state improve quality of life for everyone.

Fact: States, cities, and counties together expend $1.3 billion on litter abatement annually. Litter removal is often a hidden cost within employee expenses or other projects which makes it difficult to determine the actual cost to local governments.

For more information on the Palmetto Prideway, please visit www.palmettopride.org.

Tony Pope – State Farm Ins. sponsored a two-mile segment on I-26 in Summerville showing its corporate goodwill to improving the economic and environmental landscape of South Carolina.

Palmetto Prideway is an interstate cleanup program brought to you by PalmettoPride, SC Department of Corrections and SC Department of Transportation.  It was created to give companies across the state a way to boost economic development, foster a cleaner highway system and improve the overall quality of life for South Carolinians.

Since the Prideway program began in 2002, litter has decreased on our interstates by more than 50%.  That reduction has been seen across the state on our highways and main Streets.  Our business sponsors like Tony Pope Insurance are leading by example and helping our state improve quality of life for everyone.

Fact: States, cities, and counties together expend $1.3 billion on litter abatement annually. Litter removal is often a hidden cost within employee expenses or other projects which makes it difficult to determine the actual cost to local governments.

For more information on the Palmetto Prideway, please visit www.palmettopride.org

In its third year, the Keeping the Colonial Life Arena Clean program coordinated by USC and PalmettoPride has partnered with the Boys & Girls Club to help the kids learn about keeping the environment clean and to inform the public on the importance of proper disposal of their trash.

“We thought it was a great opportunity to work with a local non-profit to not only bring help educate the kids, but to also be able to provide some entertainment to this great group,” said Linda Shadel, Director of Operations for PalmettoPride.

During one timeout in the second half of each game, a video board feature will remind fans about the initiative while members of the Boys & Girls Club walk through the stands with trash bags, encouraging Arena visitors to dispose of their trash responsibly.  The Boys & Girls Club volunteers receive complimentary tickets to the game and a t-shirt, courtesy of PalmettoPride.

“The Boys & Girls Clubs of the Midlands is dedicated to improving our community and is excited to work with PalmettoPride in its mission to keep the Midlands beautiful,” BGCM Vice President of Communications and Resource Development, Ken Martin, said. “Community service opportunities like this are an excellent way to educate and encourage our members to take an active role in their community.”

Keeping the Colonial Life Arena Clean takes place at all Mens’ SEC home games and two womens games each basketball season.  For more information on this program and PalmettoPride, please visit www.palmettopride.org.

PalmettoPride is 501c3 non-profit organization dedicated to eradicating litter in South Carolina.  Using a 4-pronged approach – Education, Enforcement, Awareness and Pickup – PalmettoPride has helped reduce litter by more than 50%.  For more information, visit www.palmettopride.org.

With today’s uncertain economy, families are being faced with difficult choices as they try to find balance in their conflicting financial and personal demands. For this and many other reasons, an increasing number of children are being left at home with no adult care or supervision. In every community, boys and girls are left to find their own recreation and companionship in the streets.

The Boys & Girls Clubs of the Midlands offers not only an affordable solution for families facing this problem, but so much more. All of our Club programs and services promote and enhance the development of boys and girls by instilling a sense of competence, usefulness, belonging and influence. The Boys and Girls Clubs of the Midlands are a safe place to learn, grow and BE GREAT – all while having fun. Great Futures Start Here.  For more information, visit www.bgcmidlands.org .

Activities Include Litter Pickup, Building Improvements and More

Columbia, SC – The City of Bishopville and PalmettoPride are teaming up for community improvement. On March 12, volunteers will come together for a litter pickup and commence the development of a community garden. This event will kick off a citywide initiative to improve the Harlem Blue Pond area. The continuing program will focus on tearing down derelict buildings and building pride in the community.

The activities will begin at 10 a.m. and will conclude at 2:00 p.m. Lunch will be provided free to volunteers.

Volunteers are to meet in the Harlem Blue Pond area at Leevy Park.

To volunteer, please contact Jennifer Fisher with PalmettoPride toll-free at 877-725-7733 or Gregg McCutcheon with the City of Bishopville at 803 484-5984.