Congressman Mike Conaway, representing the 11th Congressional District of Texas, was the Keynote Speaker at the Keep Midland Beautiful Annual Appreciation Lunch on Wednesday, February 17, 2010. Bill Dingus was Master of Ceremonies. Mayor Wes Perry also spoke at the event. The luncheon was sponsored by Suddenlink. The theme was “Do Your Part – Drop by Drop”, focusing on water issues and awareness.

Clockwise from top left: Doreen Richardson, KMB Executive Director & Bill Dingus, Master of Ceremonies open the Luncheon; Mayor Wes Perry speaks about water awareness; Congressman Mike Conaway, wife Suzanne, Chairman of the Annual Appreciation Luncheon Sharla Hotchkiss and KMB Executive Director, Doreen Richardson; Cindy Martin from Suddenlink, Luncheon sponsor

KMB honored groups and individuals that have helped grow the organization and done exemplary volunteer service in 2009. The recipients are listed below.

This event allows Keep Midland Beautiful Board of Directors and Volunteers an opportunity to recognize those groups and individuals who have made a difference in the community through litter prevention, waste management, environmental education and beautification.

2009 Keep Midland Beautiful Volunteer Achievement Award Recipients

• ADOPT A HIGHWAY – Terrett Septic Tank Company
  For at least 15 years, Terrett Septic Tank Company has sponsored an Adopt A Highway site on State Highway 158 from 5 miles south of IH-20. David Hamilton, owner of Terrett Septic Tank Company, is the key to this cleanup group. Their award is not necessarily for the amount of trash that is recovered by them, (which by the way is substantial) but for their dedication to the program. Every cleanup David is there, with or without additional helpers. Many times it is only David out there on the section, all by himself, sometimes onlya few bags of trash are collected......but always he is there. There may be other AAH groups that have more people and collect more trash, but no one has done it longer or more consistently.
  
  
• ADOPT A SPOT – Lee Freshman Student Council
  Under the direction of Tim Cates, The Lee Freshman Student Council has done an amazing job in a short time. Their time with KMB may be little, but their involvement and numbers are big. They participated in the Great American Cleanup and the Make a Difference Day Annual Fall Cleanup, plus went out 5 other times to clean up their Adopt a Spot. After cleaning their area during the fall cleanup, they joined others cleaning the newly annexed “windowpane” area. A few months later the group helped at Texas Recycles Day unloading vehicles and loading the reusable items on the Salvation Army truck. Lee Freshman Student Council buys their own trash bags and gloves for their trash pickups, saving money for KMB. Together they volunteered 137 hours and have picked up nearly 1 ton of trash.
  
  
• BEAUTIFICATION – TreeKeepers
  After a few years’ hiatus, TreeKeepers is back strong as ever. 6 members consisting of certified arborists and volunteers with a general fondness for trees make up TreeKeepers. After a few initial meetings, the reorganized group held mulching and pruning events, a Tree Care Seminar, and planted 30 trees at 6 MISD elementary schools while educating students on the proper way to plant trees and why trees are so important to Midland. 50 starter trees were planted at the tree farm with St. Ann’s School students, and 10 trees at MARC resident homes. Their commitment to keeping the trees in the public area of Midland looking good and making Midlanders aware of the value of their urban forest has earned them this award. Photo (l-r): Bart Hotchkiss, Randy Myers, David Hartman, Jeff Floyd, Chairman of TreeKeepers, Gary Saunders, Chairman of Keep Midland Beautiful, and Bryan Garvin
  
  
• BUSINESS – Midland Memorial Hospital
  Midland Memorial Hospital’s initiative to become a more environmentally friendly facility has carried over into the entire hospital including the new patient tower building plans. Wanting to recycle plastics and cardboard for years, the staff has been diligent in making it possible. From their water saving linen program and plans for a rain water capture system, to their commitment for their new patient tower to be a LEED certified facility; Midland Memorial Hospital is taking the lead in providing healthcare to the people of the Permian Basin while maintaining in an eco-friendly culture. A sponsor of KMB’s annual cleanups, Midland Memorial Hospital is an environmental partner and leader in the community.
  
  
• GOVERNMENT – City of Midland & Midland County
  “Strength in numbers” could have been the slogan for the cleanup of the Bizzell Kaiser Addition, also known as “the windowpane”. During the KMB Make a Difference Day Annual Fall Cleanup this past October, the City of Midland and Midland County joined forces to help resident’s cleanup their area before annexation. In just 3 ½ hours, over 63 tons of trash and debris was removed from with the help of the residents and 250 KMB volunteers. All in all 875 hours were donated. That chilly morning 5 City & 5 County dump trucks & 9 front end loaders along with around 30 employees from the City or County descended on “the windowpane” cleaning up one street at a time. Congratulations to the City and County for working as partners to make this venture a great success.
  
  
• LITTER PREVENTION – Midland County Sheriff & Commissioners Court Community Work Program
  If asked what group has made the most difference in litter prevention you simply have to look at the numbers. The Midland County Sheriff & Commissioners Court Community Work Program started in 2008 and has made an enormous impact in some of Midlands’ most littered areas. In 2009, 1,359 participants went out to clean up trash 142 times. During the 9.621 hours spent cleaning, 70.35 tons of trash was collected. The participants have gotten in trouble with “the law” (aka Sheriff Gary Painter) and have been given cleanup detail in order to pay for their offenses by the officiating Judge. You can recognize these workers when they are out as Sheriff Painter has them dressed in black and white stripe uniforms. Today we recognize this program for its effectiveness in Midland.
  
  
• MEDIA– Univision 18
  “What can we do to help?” is the refreshing comment heard when working with everyone at Univision 18. This Spanish based TV station has been one of KMB’s media partners for several years and is always available when we need to get our message out. They provide interviews on any KMB project or program. Interviews with Catarina Nava who is bilingual are aired, and interviews in English with Doreen Richardson (her Spanish is petito) insure that the message gets out.. Communicating the KMB mission, projects and programs to the entire community is so important, and Univision 18 does a wonderful job of making certain the Spanish speaking residents of Midland are aware and engaged.
  
  
• RECYCLING– Midland College Recycling Committee
  Recycling at Midland College has come a long way over the past 2 years, and the “grassroots” group that led the way is the Midland College Recycling Committee. Every other Wednesday at 2:30 p.m. Midland College staff, faculty and students participate in “dump day”. You see Professors, freshmen, groundskeepers, anybody and everybody, hopping in their trucks and going from building to building to collect recyclables. They are then taken to the large recycling containers at the Chaparral Center parking lot. This aggressive recycling committee has been so successful getting involvement that the amount recycled in 2009 has TRIPLED from 2008. This committee also held a fun, well attended Earth Day Fair that involved the entire campus. They are a perfect example of what “grassroots” can really do.
  
  
• SPONSORSHIP - H.E.B.
  H.E.B. is recognized for its 9-year sponsorship of Keep Midland Beautiful. The H.E.B. plastic bag recycling collection site has accepted hundreds of bags for recycling each week. In addition to their sponsorship of a recycling location in their parking lot, we recognize H.E.B. for their continuous donation as major sponsor of the Great American Cleanup/Don’t Mess with Texas Trash off and the Make a Difference Day Cleanup. This sponsorship has helped KMB to experience a 30 percent increase in participants. They help provide t-shirts to participants and support the lunch served after the cleanups. Soon 267 recycling totes will be distributed to 6 area schools through a H.E.B. Green Bag Grant won KMB. For every reusable bag purchased at H.E.B. stores, 5 cents is given to this statewide grant program. HEB is also an Adopt a Spot sponsor and is one of the top sponsors of Trio of Gardens in September.
  
  
• VOLUNTEER OF THE YEAR– Raymond Saddler
  Since 2004, Raymond has said “yes” when asked to help KMB. And he has been asked a lot. Raymond (aka Ray Ray) has been helping with the annual cleanups at the Utility Divisions’ Adopt a Spot for many years, and has become a mainstay at the celebration picnics after the cleanups, helping wherever he is needed. When KMB started our Texas Recycles Day event, Raymond took on the challenge of helping load and organize the computers and other electronics. Because he was so good at that job, he was asked to be Chairman of Texas Recycles Day and again he said “Yes”. He has chaired the event for the past 2 years. Both years were incredibly successful, and we hope he will say “yes” again for a 3rd year. In his spare time he works on keeping the KMB computers running. He’s one of a kind. Thanks for all you do, Ray.
  
  
• Gary Saunders – Keep Midland Beautiful Chairman of the Board 2008-2009

Chairman of the KMB Board of Directors Ken Riley (left)
gives outgoing Chairman Gary Saunders a thank you gift.