Newsletter –Spring 2015

www.keepevansvillebeautiful.org Connect with:

Who We Are What We Do

Keep Evansville Beautiful is a catalyst for citizen action creating a beautiful, inviting, healthy out-door environment to assure an improved quality of life and enhanced economic growth for the greater Evansville area.

Litter Abatement and Prevention•

Recycling•

Beautification and Community Greening•

litter abatement activities associated with our own neighborhoods, schools, churches, and, workplaces. Keep Evansville Beautiful supports such activities throughout the entire year. We are asking for your help in identifying areas, organizing cleanup teams and conducting your own litter cleanups. We can help! Keep Evansville Beautiful will provide bags, gloves, T-shirts and water to any volunteer groups, organizations, or individuals wanting to organize and conduct cleanup activities. On April 11, 2015 we conducted a Great American Cleanup event where we provided information and supplies to volunteers who registered for a future cleanup. If you missed this event or if you want to register for additional cleanups, please visit the Keep Evansville Beautiful website (keepevansvillebeautiful.org) or stop by the Keep Evansville Beautiful office at 209 Main Street. You can register for your event and can pick up supplies at that time or any time prior to the cleanup. This is our community and you can make a difference!

The Great American Cleanup is the country’s largest community improvement program. This program, which kicks off each spring, includes at least twenty-thousand communities and more than two-million volunteers annually. Keep America Beautiful and its network of community-based affiliates execute the Great American Cleanup through providing communities opportunities to engage volunteers in community-specific projects and activities involving litter abatement, beautification, and recycling.

Keep Evansville Beautiful coordinates and participates in local litter abatement activities as an equal partner in the Clean Evansville Initiative and through activities conducted in neighborhoods and other areas of the city. We need your help! Each month, certain areas of the city are cleaned up through the Clean Evansville Initiative. However, the key to a successful litter abatement program requires that each of us participate in

Executive CommitteeLaurel Jones, Chairman, SkanskaJohn Whyman, Chair Elect, Old National BankDustin Ash, Secretary, Mead Johnson NutritionJeff May, VP Development First Security BankTurk Walton, VP Development Community VolunteerLinda Sartore McClain, Treasurer, Deaconess Health Chris Boeke, Past Chair, Vectren Corporation

Board of DirectorsJoe Ballard, Vand. Co. Solid Waste Jack Barner, University of EvansvilleJim Beck, Alcoa Warrick OperationsCindy Brinker, University of Southern IndianaTodd Chamberlain, Republic SrvcCarter Clarke, Lamar Outdoor AdvertisingChris Cooke, UNOEShawn Dickerson, Urban ForesterGail Dunn, Dunn Hospitality GroupRob Flores, Berry PlasticsDuane Gilles, Evansville Water UtilityKim Henning, Tropicana EvansvilleKen Hurst, Cummins CrosspointSergeant Scott Hurt, EPD Jeff Justice, Hafer AssociatesJanet Raisor, St. Mary’s Medical CtrRebecca Rhymer, Progressive HealthAngie Ross-Peters, Town Square MediaMike Shoulders, Lochmueller GroupMatt Wannemuehler, Lochmueller GroupPaul Waters, German American BankPatty Woehler, Springleaf Financial

Lifetime DirectorsClaudette BransonRolland EckelsLinda GarrettKalah Georgette-VowelsJ. Steven MartinClayton PowersG. Michael SchopmeyerJohn C. SchroederSherrianne StandleyEd Ziemer

Letter from the Executive Director -Julie WelchIt finally happened! The snow and ice melted and we are beginning to see the signs of Spring. What a wonderful time of year, Spring. It seems a smile comes to everyone’s face a little quicker, people are ready to shed their winter coats and we all have just a bit more “spring” in our step!

Here at Keep Evansville Beautiful we have been planning for Spring for several months. We have supplies in for our Great American Clean-up which is a great time for neighborhoods to work together picking up litter and beautifying their surroundings. We have awarded our Green Team Grants to two schools. The Signature School will build an urban wildlife habitat for downtown Evansville, and Washington Middle School will put in pavers to stop mulch erosion at their school. It’s heartwarming to see our children care so much for our environment. Arbor Day is another opportunity to help our planet. Plant a tree in your yard, or shrubs or flowers, it will have an impact. And don’t forget about Clean Evansville, the first Saturday of each month. Come with your friends, get some exercise and help clean-up our city.

With all the wonderful things happening in our city we still need your help to stop people from littering.

If you see someone littering from their car call the hotline and report it. The number is (812) 453-9876. Be sure to give a description of the car, the license plate number and the color of the vehicle. Please remind your own family and tell all your friends not to litter. This is our town, let’s keep it trash-free and beautiful!

Julie Welch, Executive Director

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Beautiful Business is Back!This year, we will once again be showing our support of Beautiful Businesses in Evansville. We want to recognize and commend the neighborhoods, organization, and corporations that make an effort to be clean, green, and sustainable. There will be two different categories: One for sustainable/eco-friendly business practices and the other for landscaping. There will be two winners from each category and we will announce the winners at our annual awards breakfast in October. If your workplace or neighborhood is environmentally friendly, has beautiful landscaping, or has made an effort to become cleaner and greener, please apply today! Self-nominations are encouraged. Look for the applications under the Resources tab on our webpage.

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Green Team Winners AnnouncedKeep Evansville Beautiful and Atlas World Group are proud to announce Signature School and Washington Middle School as your 2015 Green Team Grant Winners!

KEB and Atlas World Group provide two $300 micro grants that are designed to inspire 5th-12th grade students to get involved with their community while improving the environment. We award two grants to student groups that come up with the most impactful project idea they can imagine on a $300 budget. This makes kids get creative while also learning the importance of budgeting.

This year, we had numerous applications with great project ideas from Evansville students. We judged the applications on feasibility, creativity, and longevity. Two projects really stood out to the judges and the group unanimously decided on Washington Middle School and Signature School as the grant winners.

Signature School’s Conservation Club applied for the grant to improve their campus and community by developing their grounds and creating an urban wildlife habitat. The grant states that “the students are planning to clean up trash on the grounds, mulch the landscaping, and replace some of the existing ornamental plants with plants that are native to Southern Indiana” because “the native plants will better benefit wildlife”. With the help of the Key Club, other students, teachers, and parents, we believe this project will be well-implemented and maintained for years to come.

Washington Middle School’s Garden Club submitted a simple yet impactful grant application for their

campus as well. They have a problem with mulch eroding from their landscaped areas during rain. Aliyah Biseri, a 5thgrade student, writes “we need garden stone bricks for the front of our school. These stones will keep the mulch from going onto the sidewalks. On stormy days the mulch is pushed everywhere and doesn’t look clean. So with the stones the sidewalks will be clean and beautiful”. This handwritten grant application also included a drawing of the project idea. We are awarding them the grant money because we find the project to be a great way to reduce run off, save money on mulch, and improve the overall aesthetic appeal of the landscaping they have worked so hard on.

We would like to thank all of our supporters, applicants, schools, and teachers that made our 2015 Green Team Grants a success. You are truly the people who Keep Evansville Beautiful.

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KEB and Icemen Team Up for a Win!

KEB and the Icemen teamed up for another successful fundraising event on February 28th! A signed

Icemen jersey was raffled off during the hockey game and 100% of proceeds went directly towards

funding KEB projects for the 2015 year. Volunteer efforts, the generosity of the Icemen, and raffle

participants made this event a tremendous success.

The Icemen donated the jersey (a $139 value) and then the entire team signed it. Raffle tickets were sold

during the beginning of the game and everyone that bought a ticket was given a free Icemen poster. The

raffle generated over $980 for KEB, we couldn’t have been happier!

The winner of the raffled Jersey was Dion Howell (see picture above) and he was very excited about the

big win!

KEB would like to acknowledge the following volunteers from the event: Donnie Harris, Vanessa Beaulieu,

Rosemary McGarrah, Randy Cure, Erika Ross.

Thank you all so much for helping make this event a success!

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Calendar of coming Clean-Ups

2015 Clean Evansville Themes/Dates/Locations

Month Theme Area of Focus

May 2 Scouting Kratzville/Mill/Ist Ave

June 6 Friends of Mayor Winnecke 41/Diamond/Fares/Kentucky

July 11 Civic Organizations Cedar Hall/Fulton

August 1 Neighborhood Associations Wesselman Park Area

September 5 Faith-Based Groups Riverside / Kentucky

October 3 HOT MESS TBA

November 7 Local Universities West Franklin Street

December 5 Corporate Challenge North Green River / Morgan

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EVIE Gets the Royal Treatment at Kidabaloo

Spring Bulbs Make an Appearance

EVIE Sue had a great time at Kidabaloo this year! EVIE had a booth set up to teach children not to litter. She reached over 1,400 kids with her message in this one afternoon! She also got to meet a very special Disney Channel star, “Dez” from the show Austin and Ally. Overall it was a great event with lots of exposure for EVIE and her very important message – DON’T LITTER!

Last fall, First Bank and KEB partnered together to create a “Spring Bulbs for Schools” program. We went to ten schools and planted over 2,000 bulbs with underprivileged students in Evansville. This spring we are happy to see the fruits of our labor as the crocuses, grape hyacinths, and daffodils pop up around EVSC schools!

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Arbor Day Contest Sprouts

Mow it - Bag it or Mulch it

Keep Evansville Beautiful is in the midst of its annual Arbor Day contests! Each year, KEB holds a writing contest to get kids excited about Arbor Day and the environment. Kids from all over Vanderburgh County have the chance to write an essay or a poem about trees with the hopes of winning some awesome prizes! Essays and poems were turned in on April 1st and the winners will be invited to attend an Arbor Day party on April 24th!

Our annual third grade competition is short essays compiled on the topic of “My Favorite Tree”.

Also, this year we expanded our contest to include a poetry competition for the 5th graders. For this new contest we put the 5th grader’s knowledge of poetry to use by having them write tree-themed poems. We hope to merge environmentalism with education through these contests, sponsored by Vectren.

When the weather is nice enough for all the windows to be down, you know spring is upon us. But with spring, comes lawn upkeep. Though it may be tempting, we are encouraging citizens not to blow any of their grass clippings, leaves, or limbs into the streets. This form of disposal is a violation of the Illicit Discharge section of the City of Evansville Municipal Code. Sources of illicit discharges include sanitary wastewater, septic tank effluent, car wash wastewater, oil disposal, radiator flushing disposal, laundry waste water, roadway accident spillage, household hazardous wastes, and deliberately concentrated yard waste.” These clippings can be carried down the curb line and into the storm drainage system blocking the flow of storm water leaving the city streets and surrounding property. These materials will also decay and cause the streams and rivers to be contaminated. On top of the fact that it’s just not beautiful when there are grass clippings or other debris in our streets!

Keep Evansville Beautiful209 Main Street • Evansville, IN 47708

812-425-4461www.keepevansvillebeautiful.org

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Your donations fund KEB

projects and programs.

Thank You!

Mark Your CalendarsSee 2015 Clean Evansville dates

inside on Page 5!

Contact our office or visit our websitefor more information.

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Keep Evansville BeautifulSpring 2015Newsletter