Keep Iowa Beautiful

Photo Credit: Scott Hoag, Iowa Water Honorable Mention

13th Annual Keep Iowa Beautiful Annual Photographer Contest Submission


April 2023 Newsletter

Join Us for Keep Iowa Beautiful's Second Annual Golf Tournament

Keep Iowa Beautiful is excited to announce our Second Annual Golf Tournament on Tuesday, July 11th at Copper Creek Golf Club, 4825 Copper Creek Dr, in Pleasant Hill, IA! All proceeds will support Keep Iowa Beautiful’s efforts to make Iowa a more beautiful and sustainable place to live and work! 


Do you want to showcase your organization and show support to Keep Iowa Beautiful? Consider donating an auction item or becoming a hole sponsor! Hole sponsorships can be purchased for $125. Learn more and register here


Want to donate an auction item? Please reach out to Executive Director, Andy Frantz, at afrantz@keepiowabeautiful.org.


Register Here

Don't Forget- Register for the 2023 Pick-Up Iowa Program!

Keep Iowa Beautiful invites Iowans to join the Great American Cleanup and an estimated 3 million volunteers across the nation by removing litter from public areas during Pick-Up Iowa from April 15th through July 31st. 


New to Pick Up Iowa this year is a reimbursement program. The first 35 communities who sign up will be eligible for a $50 reimbursement for purchases made to aid their pick-up event. Qualifying purchases may include trash bags, gloves, litter grabbers, or food and beverages for volunteers. Awarded communities will receive notification on May 5th, 2023.


“Keep Iowa Beautiful is continuously impressed by the amount of time and care Iowans give to ensure their communities are able to thrive both physical and economically,” said Andy Frantz, executive director of Keep Iowa Beautiful. “We are thrilled to continue this partnership between Pick-Up Iowa and the Great American Cleanup to help Iowans take action in reducing litter and trash in their towns.”


Pick Up Iowa creates focused efforts to clean up trash along Iowa’s roadsides, neighborhoods, streets, school grounds, parks, forests, and streams. In 2022, Pick Up Iowa volunteers in 36 communities spent over 6,500 hours collecting 2,000 bags of litter and debris. 


Community members or groups are invited to participate. Organizations who often host clean up events include civic associations, schools, church groups, local sports teams, college clubs, groups of families and friends, businesses, Scouts, and others.


Sign-up now at http://bit.ly/40nN0XW. Applications are due April 30th, 2023. Awarded communities will receive notification on May 5th, 2023.

Apply Now

Keep Iowa Beautiful Announces

2023 Award Winners

The Keep Iowa Beautiful Board of Directors announced the following award winners for 2023.

 

“The Keep Iowa Beautiful award program recognizes exceptional people and organizations that have gone above and beyond to create stronger Iowa communities,” said Andy Frantz, Executive Director of Keep Iowa Beautiful.  “Creating a stronger sense of pride in community improves the economic vitality and cultural climate where we live, work and raise a family.”


The Keep Iowa Beautiful Corporation Award goes to the FARMERS MUTUAL TELEPHONE COMPANY for leading by example in connectivity, housing and community development in Stanton.


The Keep Iowa Beautiful Organization Award to the IOWA RURAL DEVELOPMENT COUNCIL for empowering rural communities and resource providers towards collaboration and positive change.


The Keep Iowa Beautiful Robert D. Ray Award of Excellence to the COMMUNITY OF MANNING  for fostering innovation, leadership, and pride in developing a vibrant community, and the COMMUNITY OF POCAHONTAS for building strong partnerships with community groups and businesses and enhancing Hometown Pride in the community.


The Keep Iowa Beautiful Donald F. Lamberti Hometown Pride Vision Award selected SCOTT SMITH for his longtime support and service to improving the quality of life in our state making Iowa’s communities better places to live and raise a family.


Congratulations to all winners!


2023 Keep Iowa Beautiful Scholarship Winners Announced

Three high school seniors are receiving Keep Iowa Beautiful $1,000 scholarships toward their studies at an Iowa college or university.


OLIVIA ARKFELD, Council Bluffs, Byers Scholarship. Attending University of Iowa, studying environmental engineering. Educator Bob Byers dedication to young people and environmental concerns was a driving force encouraging young people to help improve their communities.


CLAIRE BRITT, West Union, Fultz Scholarship. Attending University of Iowa, studying marketing/managing.  Bill Fultz was a founding KIB Board member and artist. He started an advertising agency that became the largest agriculture advertising agency in the world.


AMANDA OGLE, Gravity, Schnepf Scholarship. Attending Iowa State University, studying environmental engineering. Gerry Schnepf, founding Executive Director. His careers spanned 50 years of making Iowa a better place to live, work and raise a family.  



“Keep Iowa Beautiful is proud to award scholarships to graduating high school seniors who have a record of community service and environmental stewardship,” said Andy Frantz, Keep Iowa Beautiful Executive Director, “These seniors have a passion to improve the places where they live and work throughout their lives and careers, and we couldn’t be more excited to see where their education takes them.”

Since the creation of the scholarship program, Keep Iowa Beautiful has awarded $57,000 to 67 students.  There were 112 applications for this year’s three scholarships. 


OLIVIA ARKFELD,

Council Bluffs

CLAIRE BRITT,

West Union

AMANDA OGLE,

Gravity

Hometown Pride Updates

Check out some of the great work happening in our Hometown Pride Communities!

Maquoketa Gears up for Summer Concert Series


Maquoketa's Hometown Pride Committee is quickly securing donations for their 2023 Summer Concert Series! Concerts are held every-other-week in downtown Maquoketa. Check out the photo from last year's event to the right.

Inspire Poco Leadership Program Comes to an End


The fourth Inspire Poco Leadership Session was held on March 8th, at the Pocahontas Community Hospital. Community Housing Assistance Programs were the major focus for this final session. Participants also presented their Legacy Project plan to funders. Congratulations!

Social Media Submissions

Keep Iowa Beautiful wants to share your community’s good news!

Are you proud of a completed project in your town? Do you want to show off a new mural in your downtown? Did you host a fun, exciting event for your community? We want to know about it!


Click on the button below to share short descriptions of events, projects, or news from your town! You can include pictures and captions as well. Keep Iowa Beautiful will share your post on our social media!

Submit Your Stories

You Can Stop Litter!

You can help reduce litter in Iowa! 

 

When you see litter happening on Iowa’s roadways, call 1-888-NOLITTR (1-888-665-4887) to report littering from a vehicle.  

 

Please provide as much detail about the incident as possible: 

  • License plate number  
  • Time and specific location (street & city) 
  • What was thrown from the vehicle 
  • A vehicle description (color, make and model) 

 

Reported offenders will receive a warning letter from Keep Iowa Beautiful drawing attention to their offense. This sends the message that people, like you, are watching. 

Your Support Matters!


Consider supporting Keep Iowa Beautiful to help us continue our work improving Iowa communities! Remember: donations to Keep Iowa Beautiful are tax deductible! 


Donations can be made online or checks can be mailed to our office: 

            Keep Iowa Beautiful

            2910 Westown Pkwy. Suite 302

            West Des Moines, IA 50266


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KEEP IOWA BEAUTIFUL
2910 Westown Parkway, Suite 302 | West Des Moines, IA 50266
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