If you volunteer locally, you probably know Keep Waco Beautiful. Keep Waco Beautiful mobilizes thousands of volunteers annually. This was another big year with over 12,000 volunteers turning out to clean lakes, rivers, neighborhoods, alleyways.  Hundreds of volunteers removed invasive kudzu from behind Art Center Waco. Many more beautified park entrance ways and painted 2 dozen houses for those who needed assistance.  Scores of volunteers helped lead recycling days and projects.  Dozens of others led environmental education in school classrooms and assisted in maintaining green classrooms.  Collectively, these volunteers devoted over 52,000 hours of service!  And we appreciate them all collectively, but we especially appreciate them each individually. 

 Keep Waco Beautiful believes in the power of individuals to make positive change for the betterment of our greater Waco community.  We salute the man who walks down MLK every morning with a bag collecting trash as he enjoys his morning walk.  He makes a difference for you and for me.  We so appreciate the 6 year old who eagerly arrives with his grandmother for his very first Brazos River Cleanup. He can’t wait to get his trashbag and his assignment.  He can barely stand still with anticipation. Who knows? He may grow up to lead this annual event.  What would we do without that one MCC Phi Theta Kappa member who recruits and rallies the others of her group to show up to volunteer for Earth Day only minutes after they disembark from a long and tiring bus ride home from a conference?  And, the woman who checks on alleyways in her neighborhood and finds neighbors with trailers to help her clean problem areas is invaluable to this community.  The artist who takes her children out to green classrooms for texture and color studies understands the value of the natural world and passes it on.  The attorney who uses her spare time to photograph and share the beauty of the Waco Wetlands with all who love nature is such a benefit to greater Waco.  How lucky we are to have the woman who convinces friends, neighbors and co-workers to recycle their plastic and donate it to a school of their choice for the annual school plastic recycling challenge.  Hopefully they will continue to recycle their plastic long after the school challenge ends.  The Girl Scout and her mom who stay to clean the WalMart parking lot after selling cookies do that for you and for me.  And the man who convinces his church to begin a recycling program this year is an asset to each and every one of us.  The life of our aging landfill may increase just a bit because of him.  We salute the lady who leads her female motorcycle group in adopting a street and cleaning it regularly.  She collects trashbags and other cleaning supplies and makes the job even easier for the others in her group. Our community is so fortunate to have the woman who donates her time and expertise and even her money to design and plant native Texas flower beds at her favorite nonprofit buildings.   How about the ISP sports employee who had an idea that Baylor fans could be recycling at football games?  He went on to make a presentation and help find money for the project that includes not only football, but recycling at every Baylor sporting event.  That’s over 220,000 plastic bottles diverted from the landfill because one man decided to help. 

 One person makes a difference to our quality of life dozens of times each week in Waco, hundreds of times each year.  We all contribute. We all make a difference. Collectively we are invincible.

 Keep Waco Beautiful looks forward to another year of igniting and celebrating the individuals who strive to make our community a remarkably clean, safe, healthy and beautiful place to live, work, and play. Call us if you’d like to volunteer, have an idea, or need help with a project.