PHOTO: Keep Victoria Beautiful volunteers pick up trash during the Earth Day Trash-Off hosted by Keep Victoria Beautiful on April 22. A total of 262 volunteers picked up 203 bags of trash and additional bulky items at 23 locations around Victoria.
Keep Victoria Beautiful has been named a Keep Texas Beautiful Gold Star Affiliate, a designation that recognizes beautification programs that are making exceptional efforts to improve their communities.
Only 82 of Keep Texas Beautiful’s nearly 300 affiliates are Gold Star Affiliates, according to a news release from KTB.
Christy Youker, assistant director of Environmental Services and executive director of KVB, attributed the honor to KVB’s strong community partnerships and increased grassroots involvement, especially the neighborhood cleanup program that began last year.
“Keep Victoria Beautiful is about all of Victoria coming together to make our community better,” Youker said.
In addition to demonstrating community involvement, Youker was required to attend Keep Texas Beautiful training sessions and webinars throughout the year to earn the designation.
Youker said the strategies she’s learned through Keep Texas Beautiful have been instrumental in carrying out complex initiatives such as KVB’s citywide cleanups.
“When we want to do something new, we can look at what other communities are doing rather than finding out the hard way,” Youker said. “Being involved with Keep Texas Beautiful helps us to build connections and keep what we do fresh.”
Youker is also serving as a mentor to a new Keep Texas Beautiful program in Beeville, sharing guidance for operating a successful beautification program.
To learn more about Keep Victoria Beautiful, visit www.victoriatx.gov/kvb. To learn more about Keep Texas Beautiful, visit www.ktb.org.