14 days and 4,000 pounds later

March 15, 2010

Volunteers have been working all over the city to make Knoxville a cleaner, greener, more beautiful place to live. Several families, a group from the UT rowing team, and the Virginia Tech alumni group are among those who have helped us pick up over TWO TONS of litter of the streets and green spaces of Knoxville. The rain didn’t even slow down our groups this weekend and we appreciate their trooper spirit that shined through despite the weather!

Together, we’ve also been able to collect $300 worth of clothing to donate to Goodwill, as well as diverted 300 pounds of recycling!

To exceed our achievements last year, we need to pick up the pace but with CPR, EarthFest and the National Day of Service one the horizon, I know we can pump up the beautifying action. Even though we feel great about producing these numbers, that is not all the Great American Cleanup is about. Ideally, we would take so much collective responsibility for our community that we wouldn’t even need this exciting event. Take an extra bag out with you when you walk your furry friends and see how much difference one trail of consistent action can make in your neighborhood. Hopefully- your neighbors will follow your footsteps!

Give a Day, Get a Disney Day Comes to a Close Tonight!

March 4, 2010

America, I commend you for blowing Disney’s expectations out of the water by inspiring over ONE MILLION volunteers to take part in the Give a Day, Get a Disney Day in slightly over two months! However, this good news comes with the unfortunate fact that as of March 5, 2010 (tomorrow!) this motivational promotion will come to a close.

For those of you pushed by this exciting incentive, be sure to register immediately!

Those who have or will register for a flexible date, you MUST specify to remain eligible for your parks pass.

(photo credits to destination360.com)

(photo credits to destination360.com)

Thanks to our friends at the Hands On Network, the online Volunteer Opportunity Portal will still be open for folks to sign up for date and time-specific events with Keep Knoxville Beautiful! This can be a wonderful tool for recruiting and organizing volunteers for extended projects during the Great American Cleanup, so contact us if you are planning an event that you would like to see included on the site.

We feel very lucky to have been a part of this fun promotion and hope that everyone who wanted to participate got their chance!

Take control of your local environment, take care of your community, plan your own event!

March 2, 2010

You know your own community, where you work, play and live better than anyone- even the busy staff at Keep Knoxville Beautiful! The Great American Cleanup offers opportunities for concerned individuals, schools, community or church groups, or even local businesses to take control of their local environment, take action, and get involved. Follow these steps to take the lead on your own project!

1. Organize a leadership team Seek out a small group friends, family and/or neighbors that share your passion for community involvement to help you plan your event. Divide and conquer by defining individual responsibilities!

2. Brainstorm litter pick-up, waste reduction, and beautification ideas As active citizens, your team will know what your surrounding community’s environment will need the most, from tackling an illegal dump site in the area, to hosting an organic composting workshop to help your neighboring gardens grow!

3. Share your ideas/plans with our staff and register your event Keep Knoxville Beautiful is chock full of resources and experiences that may put your initial plans and ideas on the fast track to action. Registering your event will line you up for national sponsor donations and a growing list of excitable volunteers

4. Set a date Depending on your volunteer pool, Saturday mornings are often best, with a scheduled rain date. Check listings and add yours to online calendars such as Metro Pulse, City of Knoxville, and Knox News Sentinel

5. Engage local government and businesses Call 311 to schedule a courtesy dumpster at a litter pick-up event, talk to elected leaders about your plans and invite them to take time to volunteer with their constituents, ask surrounding businesses for support citing that buildings surrounded by trees and shrubs suffer from half as much crime as those with no vegetation.

6. Outreach and promotion Use your team’s personal and professional resources to promote your event. Align your event with groups such as scout troops, environmentally minded clubs, church and community groups for additional help. Call Keep Knoxville Beautiful for a general Media Packet to help you get started involving media.

7. Organize the final details and prepare your volunteers Make checklists of necessary equipment, pre-event action required, and keep in mind all of the little details that come up along the way! Be sure volunteers know what kind of clothing and equipment they will need to have a comfortable day of service!

8. Brag about your success and thank your supporters Celebrate your event with a participant potluck, give out MVP awards (we have a limited amount of awesome t-shirts you could use), and follow up with thank you letters to donors and a progress press release. Complete your event report form and send it back to Keep Knoxville Beautiful within a week of your event!

DAY ONE!!! -Great American Cleanup 2010!!!

March 1, 2010

WOW!

I can’t believe that the biggest/longest Keep Knoxville Beautiful event of the year began TODAY, and already we are well on our way to surpassing last year’s amazing achievements of organizing 3,424 citizens who donated almost 10,000 hours of service to clean almost 208,000 pounds of litter from 256 miles of streets, roads and highways.

With the added volunteer incentive of a FREE DISNEY PARKS PASS, calls have been coming into the office every day with groups small and large eager to get involved. With so many plans, we have been too busy to update the online registration until this week! Until then, if you are interested in planning, or participating in an event- please call the office 865.521.6957 or email nikida@keepknoxvillebeautiful.org to get started!

The Great American Cleanup offers opportunities for concerned individuals, schools, community and church groups, or even local businesses to take control of their local environment, take action, and get involved. Our hope is to empower the greater community into a culture of service that lends itself to making Knoxville a cleaner, greener, more beautiful place to live. Get in touch to plan an event today!

Great American Kickoff Speech by Executive Director, Allison Teeters

What makes Knoxville great?

Some might say it is our stunning landscapes; we have a vast network of parks and greenways throughout this county and we are lucky to be nestled in between the Great Smoky Mountains and Lake Loudon.

There are those that say it is in our history, reflected in our architecture and monuments that bring our memoires, tragedies, and victories to life in ways that schoolbooks simply can’t.

And others say it is our quality of life— from city streets teeming with happily busy people to beautiful lawns and playgrounds in quaint neighborhoods— we have conveniences and lifestyles that would have awed generations past.

As you know, it is all these things. But what binds them together is our people—young, old, and from all ethnicities and all walks of life. When our people come together to rally behind a cause or an effort, we can accomplish anything.

This is what Keep Knoxville Beautiful and the Great American Cleanup is all about. This is what we hope our work will progress, preserve and protect for generations to come.

At the core of the Great American Cleanup are the litter pick-ups, small and large throughout all of Knox County. Last year, we had 3,424 citizens who donated almost 10,000 hours of service to clean 256 miles of streets, roads and highways. They picked up almost 208,000 pounds of litter and we expect to cover even more in 2010!

Litter is more than just a blight on the landscape. It is a breeding ground for disease-carrying insects and rodents, it encourages further community irresponsibility and it adversely affects water quality, ecosystems and wildlife habitats. Trash that collects in streams, tributaries and drainage systems flows into larger lakes, estuaries and ultimately the ocean, compounding the damage. Did you know that over 80% of all litter and debris in our oceans, rivers and lakes originated on land?

On March 20th, Keep Knoxville Beautiful is co-sponsoring the annual Clean, Protect, Restore event with the Water Quality Forum and their community partners. We hope to encourage hundreds of volunteers to give our waterways some much needed CPR by removing the trash that clogs and pollutes our local creeks.

Beauty is far from superficial; it is a powerful force, providing restful havens from our busy lives and strong community pride in every citizen. Healthy treescapes shade homes, reducing energy consumption while digesting carbon dioxide and cleansing the air. According to research done by the University of Illinois, buildings surrounded by trees and shrubs suffer from half as much crime as those with no vegetation.

Thanks to a state grant, Keep Knoxville Beautiful has begun 20 tree plantings in South Knoxville each of which, according to the US Department of Agriculture, can not only offset 2.5 tons of carbon over a 50-year lifetime, but can control $31,250 worth of soil erosion and recycle $37,500 worth of water.

We are also excited about Tanasi Council Girl Scout Troop 20672 planting 5 crabapple trees at Holston Middle School that will serve as a beautiful addition to our community as well as a valuable learning tool for our youth. We have high hopes that as beautification projects materialize in the coming months, more will include tree plantings throughout our great community.

Our hard work is also reflected in our positive financial returns. During the 2008 through 2009 fiscal year, Keep Knoxville Beautiful provided $9.17 in measurable community benefits for every $1 invested in programs by local government. This investment pays when it comes to cleaner, greener, neighborhoods, and practical benefits abound: businesses on treescaped streets show a 12% higher revenue. Nearby property values demonstrate a 10% increase in price according to a study at the Wharton School of Business.

Today we are gathered at Calhoun’s on the River, but we are truly joining over 3 million volunteers preparing to give our time and energy to improve not only individual communities, but the whole nation from coast to coast.

This year, we can and will surpass our previous achievements. My hope is always that through you, as active citizens creating Personal Responsibility in your Direct Environment, you will put me out of a job. Keep Knoxville Beautiful is about communities—where people live, where they work and where they play.

The efforts by individuals in this room, as well as countless businesses, organizations, churches and individuals will unite through the Great American Cleanup to engage the greater community for the betterment of our city, our county, our state and our country.

By working together, we can inspire a culture of service, where citizens focus on the common good through individual stewardship for the environment and care for the community. Our combined efforts in litter prevention and removal, waste reduction, recycling and beautification can and will result in a cleaner, greener more beautiful Knoxville

Help Give Knox County Watersheds CPR!

February 26, 2010

80% of litter found in America’s waterways originated on land.

This alarming fact has inspired Keep Knoxville Beautiful to use the momentum of the Great American Cleanup to help the Water Quality Forum and CAC AmeriCorps with their annual event to remove the trash that clogs and pollutes our local creeks!

Known as Clean, Protect and Restore or simply CPR, this event has involved hundreds of volunteers, young and old, and all passionate about keeping our creeks and communities clean.  In the last decade and a half, CPR has removed over 332 tons of trash from our waterways!


This year, we are hoping to encourage hundreds of volunteers to take part in this awesome annual project, so please join us to help clean up the following sites located throughout Knoxville and in Knox County:

  • First Creek corridor at the Northgate Shopping Center. Register on the side entrance of the shopping center next to K-Mart and across from Buddy’s Barbeque.
  • Third Creek along its greenway trail. Register near the Tyson Park tennis courts located next to the Concord AvenuePark entrance.
  • Halls Crossroads community and Beaver Creek flowing through it. Register in the parking lot of the Hall Crossroads Women’s League Clothes Closet parking lot at the corner of Highway 33 and Cunningham Rd.
  • First Creek corridor along its greenway trail below the Broadway Shopping Center on Luttrell Street. (Turn right off of Broadway onto Cecil Avenue; take first right onto Luttrell Street).
  • Goose Creek throughout Mary Vestal Park. Register at the Park located on Maryville Pike under the Park’s pavilion.
  • Lonsdale Community –Texas St. / Minnesota St.  Area, Sammy Hill School area. Register at the picnic table in the Sammy Hill Park facing the Sammy Hill School.

We will have all the necessary equipment that you need to stay safe; just dress to get dirty and bring yourself!   The first 50 volunteers at each site will get a free t-shirt!

Participating in CPR or any Great American Cleanup event will allow volunteers to become eligible for the Disney Give a Day Get a Day Program to receive a free Disney Parks Pass upon completion of at least four hours of service. Find CPR HERE to sign up to volunteer for your free pass!

In the event of inclement weather, CPR will be held the following Saturday on March 27th, 2010.  We will announce its postponement by 8 am on March 20th on this Web page in the event of severe weather conditions.  Please contact Gwen at (865) 215-5899 or e-mail CPRKnoxville@gmail.com if you have any questions regarding CPR and how you may volunteer.

KKB Newsletter

September 25, 2009

THE 2009 ORCHIDS AND ONIONS AWARDS

Mark your calendars…On November 10, 2009 at the Foundry, Keep Knoxville Beautiful will hold its 28th Annual Orchids and Onions Awards Celebration. This year, we have added a silent and a live auction to the event. Don’t miss your opportunity to nominate a property for an award. The deadline to submit your favorite commercial property for an award is October 2, 2009.
Orchid Awards have a good design, sensitivity to surroundings, and high standards of maintenance.
Onion Awards have an absence of conscious design, insensitivity to surroundings, and poor maintenance. Keep Knoxville Beautiful likes to think of Onion winners as an Orchid that has not bloomed.
Nominations can be made at our website www.keepknoxvillebeautiful.org. A list of past Orchid Award winners is also available on our website.

Hazardous Waste Collection Expands Operating Hours

June 1, 2009

The City of Knoxville’s Household Hazardous Waste Collection Center at the City Solid Waste Management Facility Transfer Station, located at 1033 Elm Street, will be expanding its operating hours starting on July 6.

The new operating times will be the same as the existing hours of the Solid Waste Management Facility Transfer Station, which includes being open on Mondays providing additional residential access to the center. Residents of the City of Knoxville and Knox County can drop off hazardous household materials for free at the Household Hazardous Waste Collection Center.

The Public Service Department’s decision to expand the hours reflects an increasing demand by citizens to use the facility.

“During the past year requests to have the center open at the same time as the Transfer Station have grown along with our citizens’ increasing awareness about the environment and need to help do something to protect it,” said John Homa, the City of Knoxville’s Solid Waste Project Manager. “Once these hazardous materials get into our landfills there is a possibility, in the future, for them to leach out into our water streams or get into the atmosphere causing possible health risks and damage to the environment.”

Homa said the new Center hours will be:

Mon - Tue - Thur - Fri: 7:00 am - 4:00 pm
Wed: 7:00 am - 12 Noon
Sat: 8:00 am - 12 Noon
The center will be closed on Sundays

Materials that are accepted at the Household Hazardous Waste Collection Center range from adhesives, air conditioners (small window units), automotive oil and fuel (10 gal. limit per day), computers (2 systems per resident), fluorescent tubes & compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFL bulbs) to paint (20 gal. limit per day per container size) propane cylinders and window washer fluid.

-more-
Items that are not accepted range from ammunition, medical waste, materials generated by any type of business (commercial hazardous waste) to radioactive waste (including smoke detectors).

For a complete list and directions to the Household Hazardous Waste Collection Center see the City of Knoxville web page at: http://www.cityofknoxville.org/solidwaste/hazwaste.asp

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