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Welcome to Keep America Beautiful - Topeka/Shawnee County!
Keep America Beautiful-Topeka/Shawnee County Volunteers and Partners Bring National Recognition to Our Community
We are very pleased to announce the following Keep America Beautiful National awards.These awards were presented during the Keep America Beautiful 56th annual National Conference in Washington, D.C. in December.
Washburn University—Schools Category-Litter Prevention— 2nd Place
For the 2008-2009 school year, Shawnee County schools had 100% participation in the KAB focus areas of litter prevention, recycling, beautification and graffiti abatement.Without the support of the schools, the most important ambassadors of KAB—the young people, would not be informed about the importance of environmental stewardship and service to our community.It is their world that we are working to improve, beautify, protect and preserve.The support shown by the school administration, teachers, staff and parents is very much appreciated.Washburn University has recognized the importance of educating the entire person, and service to our community.They work in cooperation with Americorps VISTA providing programs in core focus areas such as:Into the Streets, Students Today Forever Leaders, Parksaid, Green Fair and the Lutheran Church youth.
Westar Energy—Business Category-Beautification— 2nd Place
Westar Energy helped with the Oprah Winfrey Big Give House project, and to create a new park “Elmhurst Greens” in the past year.They have also shown environmental commitment with their purchase of energy from Rolling Meadows Landfill, their Green Team and wind farms.
Frito Lay, Inc.—Business Category-Waste Reduction— 2nd Place
Frito-Lay helped with board personnel support, making copies and providing many bags of chips for our volunteers at events including our annual Volunteer Appreciation Luncheon.They have a Green Team and participate in the Adopt A Highway program.They are very close to their goal of 0% landfill, recycling or reusing their refuse and waste.
Each of these nominees competes with nominations from 600 other KAB affiliates, so this is a great honor to receive these recognitions in our community.
The volunteers of the local Keep America Beautiful affiliate will be recipients of the following awards:
Honorable Mention for our Cigarette Litter campaign “No Butts About It . . .This Is Litter Too!”There was a 62% decrease in cigarette litter in the areas where the program was implemented.This award recognizes the hard work and innovative ideas of the volunteers who helped with this program.
Keep America Beautiful-Topeka/Shawnee County was also the recipient of the Outstanding Sponsor Support award from Waste Management.
Also, Keep America Beautiful-Topeka/Shawnee County will receive a 1st place Affiliate Award designation for cities with a population of 50,000-200,000.
The affiliate will also receive the President’s Circle Award.These awards recognize program excellence, partnership support and the hard work and many hours committed by the volunteers to improving the community on behalf of Keep America Beautiful.
I would like to congratulate and thank all of our partners in government, business, civic groups, youth groups, schools, and also all of our KAB volunteers for their hard work and dedication all year long!We would encourage everyone to take part in making a difference in this community by joining our volunteer family.
A blind boy sat on the steps of a building with a hat by his feet. He held up a sign which said: "I am blind, please help." There were only a few coins in the hat. A man was walking by..
He took a few coins from his pocket and dropped them into the hat. He then took the sign, turned it around, and wrote some words. He put the sign back so that everyone who walked by would see the new words..
Soon the hat began to fill up. A lot more people were giving money to the blind boy. That afternoon the man who had changed the sign came to see how things were. The boy recognized his footsteps and asked, "Were you the one who changed my sign this morning? What did you write?"
The man said, "I only wrote the truth. I said what you said but in a different way." I wrote: "Today is a beautiful day but I cannot see it."
Both signs told people that the boy was blind. But the first sign simply said the boy was blind. The second sign told people that they were so blessed that they were not blind. Should we be surprised that the second sign was more effective?
Moral of the Story: Be thankful for what you have. Be creative. Be innovative. Think differently and positively.
When life gives you a 100 reasons to cry, show life that you have 1000 reasons to smile. Face your past without regret. Handle your present with confidence. Prepare for the future without fear. Keep the faith and drop the fear.
This part of our new website will be dedicated to featuring businesses or individuals who follow good environmental practices. If you would like to see your business featured here, or if you would like to honor an individual for their best environmental efforts who give back to this community, please send information to
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Best Buy, 1600 SW Wanamaker, 272-1353
Hours: M-Thu., 10am-9pm, F-Sat., 10am-10pm, Sun., 10am-7pmNi-Cd Batteries, nickel metal hydride batteries, lithium ion batteries, small sealed lead batteries (>2 lbs), rechargeable batteries, telephones, ink cartridges, televisions and computers with a $10 fee, but you receive a $10 gift card to the store.
K-State Research and Extension Office
1740 SW Western Avenue
Topeka, KS 66604-3095
785-232-0062
K-State Research and Extension Office has free compost bins available. They are for Shawnee County residents only and are available through their office, one per household (not for resale). The Shawnee County Recycling Department supplies our participating nurseries with the compost bins. Shawnee County residents come into our office between the hours of 8 to 5, Monday through Friday and fill out a sheet for the bin, take a copy of that to their participating nurseries.
Soil tests - They also have a grant from the Shawnee County Conservation District that covers one lawn or garden routine soil test per fiscal year as long as the land is in Shawnee County and as long as the grant lasts.
“Keep America Beautiful is a private, non-profit organization dedicated to cleaning up our city. Their contribution to our public efforts that include neighborhood cleanups, the removal of unnecessary public signage and using inmate work crews in our parks, low-income neighborhoods and city streets is significant, and their involvement is an important ingredient in the success we are experiencing.
I acknowledge the importance of this organization that provides a point of contact to those who are prepared to get involved in recapturing and restoring the natural beauty of this city from the urban clutter that today detracts from that beauty.”
This program is funded in part through the use of funds provided by the City of Topeka
Welcome to Keep America Beautiful - Topeka/Shawnee County!
