Keep Albany-Dougherty Beautiful hosts annual banquet

ALBANY — Volunteer support is the lifeblood of Keep Albany-Dougherty Beautiful, and individuals who helped the organization keep the community clean during the past year were honored Thursday when KADB hosted its annual volunteer banquet at the Albany Civic Center.

Elena Schneider, a KADB regular who removes litter every day, rain or shine, around the east Albany Walmart, was named the 2016 KADB Volunteer of the Year. Through her efforts, Schneider collected and properly disposed of 123 bags of litter last year.

Thursday’s banquet marked the 28th year the organization has honored the outstanding volunteers who fuel KADB, which in 2016 made a considerable impact in cleaning up and beautifying the Good Life City.

According to KADB statistics, more than 109,000 volunteers and event participants donated more than 132,485 hours of service in 2016 to help improve their community environmentally through participation in several KADB events like Stash the Trash, Rivers Alive and more.

Ann Brim-Streat, a member of the KADB commission, gave a thorough rundown of the year’s volunteer efforts, highlighting some of the outstanding achievements and thanking volunteers for their hard work.

“Through your efforts, you educated 835 attendees during KABD’s 12^th annual water festival where students soaked up water education through nine hands-on water education activities,” Brim-Streat said. “Forty-six of you planted trees during our Arbor Day celebration. You painted over 31 graffiti sites, (and) 15 Dougherty County schools participated in our Litter Free School Zone program in an effort to teach our youth that littering is unacceptable.”

Brim-Streat pointed out that more than 2,700 volunteers participated in the annual Stash the Trash event during which 99 teams of volunteers removed 15 tons of debris from 119 miles of roadway. Additionally, KADB saw 38 new partners join the Adopt-a-Spot program to clean up areas of public property, and 162 new businesses pledged to recycle in the workplace.

“One hundred and fourteen of you participated in our 10^th annual Rivers Alive Project by removing over 2.19 tons of debris from the banks and bed of the Flint River,” Brim Street continued. “Fifty-three of you assisted KADB in the collection of over 31,513 pounds of electronics, which were recycled and thus diverted from the Dougherty County landfill (during the Go-Green electronics recycling event).

“You assisted with the placement of over 100 storm drain markers, a project that is underwritten by MillerCoors, and many of you participated in our seventh annual Operation Pill Drop, where we collected 97.7 pounds of unwanted or outdated medications which law enforcement officers properly disposed of. One hundred and two of you spent several Saturday mornings (trimming Crepe Myrtles).

“So, lets have a huge round of applause for all of you.”

In addition to providing an opportunity to give praise to all of the KADB volunteers for their achievements, the banquet, which was sponsored this year by the Darsey Family Foundation and Renasant Bank, also featured the presentation of the organization’s annual awards recognizing businesses and individuals who exemplified the mission of KADB in the past year.

Albany Mayor Dorothy Hubbard and Dougherty County Commission Chairman Chris Cohilas were on hand to present the awards.

The first award presented was the Clean Business Award, which was given to The Coach House on Dawson Road, in recognition of the pride the business has taken in its appearance, and for the impact that visual appearance has had on the entire community.

For its efforts to consistently remove litter from Phillips Drive, the Mayor’s Call to Service/Litter Abatement Award was presented to the Winterwood Neighborhood Watch, whose members remove litter from the area every Friday.

Two Dougherty County Schools were then recognized for their commitment to recycling, as both Lamar Reese Elementary Magnet School of the Arts and Lincoln Elementary Magnet School were presented Recycling Awards.

The 2016 Beautification Award went to the Dougherty County Rotary Club for that group’s commitment to improving the visual appearance of Albany by maintaining the median at the corner of Dawson Road and Stewart Avenue. The club cleans, mows, and plants trees and plants at the busy intersection.

For his long-time participation in KADB’s Stash the Trash event, Curtis Edwards was presented with the 2016 Litter Abatement Award.

Albany Surgical Associates was also recognized at the banquet, receiving the 2016 Tree Stewardship Award for the Albany business’ efforts to preserve, protect and enhance Albany and Dougherty County’s urban forest.

Each year at the banquet, organizers also honor outstanding employees of Albany and Dougherty County who are champions of the KADB mission. This year’s Employee of the Year Awards were presented to Anthony Hunter from the city of Albany Public Works, Jillian Amaya from Dougherty County Public Works and Tim Parks from the Dougherty County Solid Waste Department.

“Albany and Dougherty County are truly blessed by the KADB volunteers because they care enough to make a personal commitment to environmentally improve our community,” KADB Executive Director Judy Bowles said. “KADB’s environmental partnerships protect and enhance our environment for future generations. Kudos to those who care enough to make a difference.”

Keep Albany-Dougherty Beautiful’s next volunteer event will be held this Saturday when participants assist in the planting of 20 Crepe Myrtle trees along the 1400 block of Blaylock Street, near the entrance to Eames Sports Park, as part of the organization’s Arbor Day celebration.

Interested volunteers need to arrive on the work site ready to begin at 9 a.m. wearing work clothes and gloves. Volunteers who are able are also being asked to bring shovels. For more information about this event or other KADB programs, call (229) 430-5257.