Keep Anderson County Beautiful receives $20,000 grant

 

Keep Anderson County Beautiful, or KACB, is the recipient of a 2016 Keep America Beautiful/Lowe’s Community Partners $20,000 grant, a press release said. Keep Anderson County Beautiful announced on its Facebook page that it has building an outdoor chess board at Robertsville Middle School as part of the grant.

The KACB grant is being used to improve the landscaping at Robertsville Middle School, the press release said. The goal is to develop a pleasant campus with shade structures, benches, picnic tables, trees, and other vegetation.

In mid-December, Keep Anderson County Beautiful, a nonprofit, volunteer organization, announced on its Facebook page that it is building an outdoor chess board at Robertsville Middle School as part of the grant.

This is part of the first phase in a larger plan to make RMS a center of outdoor community activity, to enhance the students’ day-to-day lives, and to improve the campus by giving it a more park-like atmosphere and additional recreational sports areas, the press release said.

KACB received a $20,000 Lowe’s grant in 2012 that was used to build outdoor environmental classrooms at Dutch Valley and Fairview Elementary Schools. A new playground was recently installed, funded through community donations.

“Giving the RMS campus a new look is long overdue,” according to Mary Saethre, current KACB president. “Several tree have been removed in the last couple of years, and picnic tables have seen better days. Benches, tables, trees, and more shade will not only benefit the students but also the community members who may use the campus outside of school hours.”

The grant proposal was submitted by Pat Imperato, a longtime KACB board member and community volunteer who died recently.

“Pat was always looking for ways to improve the county with beautification, litter removal, and increasing recycling opportunities,” the press release said.

Volunteers are needed to help. Interested individuals and organizations can send an email to Saethre at [email protected] for more information.

The press release said KACB’s grant is one of more than 40 local grant-supported community service projects implemented by Keep America Beautiful affiliates throughout the country in 2016.

It said the 2016 Keep America Beautiful/Lowe’s Community Partners Grant Program engages local volunteers to take action to benefit communities across the country with projects ranging from restoring neighborhood parks and planting community and school gardens to leading disaster restoration initiatives and large-scale cleanups.

“We are honored to help make the communities where we live and work more vibrant, beautiful places,” said James Frison, Lowe’s director of community relations. “Our partnership with Keep America Beautiful gives us the opportunity to invest in efforts that significantly impact the health of our communities.”

Since 2011, Lowe’s has supported Keep America Beautiful and its network of more than 620 state and community-based affiliates with more than $5.4 million in contributions and the support of Lowe’s Heroes employee volunteers, the press release said.

More information will be added as it becomes available.

 

 

 

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