Oak Ridge Today

Keep Anderson County Beautiful receives $20,000 grant

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Keep Anderson County Beautiful, or KACB, is the recipient of a 2016 Keep America Beautiful/Lowe’s Community Partners $20,000 grant. In mid-December, Keep Anderson County Beautiful said it is building an outdoor chess board at Robertsville Middle School as part of the grant. (Photo by Keep Anderson County Beautiful via Facebook)

 

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. [Read more…]

Earth Day Festival is April 25 at A.K. Bissell Park

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Earth Day

Pictured above is a special recycling event at Earth Day Festival.

Keep Anderson County Beautiful will host the eighth annual Earth Day festival in Oak Ridge on Saturday, April 25, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at A.K. Bissell Park.

East Tennessee residents living in or around Oak Ridge are invited to participate in the festival, organizers said. It features free activities and events that promote healthy living and environmental education, and that encourage individuals to create and contribute to a sustainable community.

Sponsored in major part by KACB and Leidos, Earth Day will feature outdoor games for children, music, healthy food vendors, exhibitors showcasing educational booths, an on-site scavenger hunt, and neighborhood games such as hopscotch, bocce, croquet, flying discs, ladder ball and a special reduce, reuse, recycle game. There will be a special area for preschool children. [Read more…]

Great American Clean-Up Kick-off in Oak Ridge on Saturday

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Great American Cleanup Keep Anderson County Beautiful 2014

Submitted photo

Keep Anderson County Beautiful is hosting a kick-off event for the Great American Clean-up on Saturday, March 7, from 9 a.m. to noon in front of the Oak Ridge Civic Center.

“If you were provided a free litter grabber and large plastic bags would you take the challenge to help keep your part of Anderson County litter free?” asks Linda Kimmel, co-chair of the event. These materials will be available on Saturday and from KACB for litter pick-ups throughout the Great American Clean-up, which runs from March-May. [Read more…]

Recycle electronics, other items; shred documents on Saturday

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You can recycle certain electronics and other items and shred documents during a recycling event on Oak Ridge Turnpike on Saturday.

The recycling program is sponsored by Keep Anderson County Beautiful. It is scheduled from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, November 8, at the Potter’s Clearance Center next to Willow Ridge Garden Center.

It’s part of the national America Recycles Day, sponsored by Keep America Beautiful.

During the local event, Scott Recycling of Knoxville will collect old computers and peripherals, cell phones, rechargeable and button batteries, compact fluorescent light bulbs (no tubes), used books (not text books), and eyeglasses. For televisions, there is a charge of $20/TV and $1 per CRT computer monitor because of current expenses associated with recycling CRT screens. No TV cabinetry will be accepted. Scott Recycling from Knoxville will be recycling the electronics. [Read more…]

Former Council member Smith running for City Council

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Ellen Smith

Ellen Smith

Ellen Smith, who served on Oak Ridge City Council from 2007 to 2012, has announced that she is a candidate for City Council in the November 4 election.

Smith is a 33-year resident of Oak Ridge who describes herself as “an Oak Ridger by choice.” As newcomers to East Tennessee in 1981, she and her husband Rich Norby looked around the area and then chose to buy in Oak Ridge and make this city their home, a press release said.

Both have made their careers at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, where Ellen is a research staff scientist in the Environmental Sciences Division and Rich is a corporate fellow in the Environmental Sciences Division and Climate Change Science Institute. Their adult son Karl was born here and attended school at Linden Elementary School, Robertsville Middle School, and Oak Ridge High School.

Smith said she decided to run for City Council this year after many citizens from diverse sectors of the city urged her to do so, the press release said. People tell her they value her knowledge of Oak Ridge, its history, and city government; her thoughtful analysis of issues and proposed solutions; and her responsiveness to citizens who contacted her with concerns, the release said. Smith said she is committed to working for the community and all of its citizens. [Read more…]

Keep Anderson County Beautiful announces Earth Day collection numbers

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Keep Anderson County Beautiful Check Presentation

Pat Imperato, left, vice chair of Keep Anderson County Beautiful, presents a check for $150 to Sister Marie Blanchette and some seventh-grade students from St. Mary’s School for contributing the most number of shoes per student as part of the recent community shoe drive. (Submitted photo)

Keep Anderson County Beautiful has announced the total amount of materials collected, including electronics and shoes, during the recent 2014 Earth Day Festival in Oak Ridge.

“This is one of the best Earth Days that we have had in terms of materials collected and diverted from our landfill through recycling,” said Pam Turner, KACB president. “The community really embraced the meaning of Earth Day while enjoying a beautiful day in the outdoors playing old-fashioned neighborhood games.”

More than 36 volunteers helped to put on the event, which collected 7,531 pounds of electronics, 5,400 pounds of personal documents for shredding, 3,100 pairs of shoes, 540 pounds of books, 108 pairs of eye glasses, and 56 pounds of blankets and towels for the animal shelter. [Read more…]

Earth Day to feature free activities, events for healthy living, environmental education

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IJAMS Earth Day 2009

The IJAMS Nature Center booth is pictured above during Earth Day 2009. (File photo)

The seventh annual Earth Day festival will feature free activities and events that promote healthy living and environmental education, and encourage individuals to create and contribute to a sustainable community, a press release said.

The festival is scheduled from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. April 26 at Alvin K. Bissell Park in Oak Ridge.

It’s hosted by Keep Anderson County Beautiful.

There will be a Trashformations art exhibit created by local area students made from recycled/found materials. There will also be outdoor games and races for children, a bike rodeo for kids, healthy food vendors, exhibitors showcasing educational booths, and neighborhood games such as hopscotch, bocce, croquet, flying discs, ladder ball, and a special reduce, reuse, recycle game. There will also be a special area for pre-school children. [Read more…]

Great American Clean-up kick-off is Saturday

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Keep Anderson County Beautiful Great American Cleanup

A submitted photo from the 2013 event.

Keep Anderson County Beautiful is hosting a kick-off event for the Great American Clean-up from 9 a.m. to noon Saturday in front of the Oak Ridge Civic Center.

“If you were provided a free litter grabber and large plastic bags, would you take the challenge to help keep your part of Anderson County litter-free?” asked Linda Kimmel, event co-chair. These materials will be available on Saturday and from KACB for litter pick-ups throughout the Great American Clean-up from March to May.

“The goal is to enlist citizens of Anderson County to pick up trash found in their own neighborhoods and roadways,” Kimmel said. “Working together, we hope to clean up one ton of litter. Civic groups, families, neighborhoods, churches, youth groups, and businesses are encouraged to form teams to reach this goal. [Read more…]

Special recycling on Saturday includes old computers, TVs, cell phones

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Keep Anderson County Beautiful is having a special recycling program at the Potter’s Clearance Center on Oak Ridge Turnpike on Saturday.

During the special recycling event, volunteers will collect old computers and peripherals, televisions (no cabinetry), cell phones, rechargeable and button batteries, fluorescent light bulbs (tubes and compact), used books (but not textbooks), and eyeglasses.

Personal document shredding will also be offered courtesy of ORNL Federal Credit Union from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., a press release said. [Read more…]

Keep Anderson County Beautiful has clean-up challenge

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Keep Anderson County Beautiful is having two clean-up kickoff events and litter awareness campaigns in March.

It’s part of the 2013 Great American Cleanup Clean-up Challenge, a press release said.

[Read more…]

Two outdoor classrooms dedicated at Anderson County schools

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Dutch Valley Elementary School Outdoor Classroom

Dutch Valley Elementary School students, Theresa Beavers from Lowes, and Principal Jennifer Foust after a ribbon-cutting ceremony celebrating a new outdoor environmental classroom. (Submitted photo)

Construction has been completed on new outdoor environmental classrooms at Dutch Valley and Fairview Elementary Schools in Anderson County. Students, officials, and volunteers celebrated with a Nov. 20 ribbon-cutting ceremony.

The open air classrooms were built with a $20,000 grant awarded to Keep Anderson County Beautiful in the spring of 2012, a press release said. The grant was from Lowes Charitable and Educational Foundation.

[Read more…]

New outdoor classrooms at Dutch Valley and Fairview elementary schools

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Construction has been completed on outdoor classrooms at Dutch Valley and Fairview elementary schools in Anderson County, and students, officials, and volunteers will celebrate with a ribbon-cutting ceremony Tuesday.

The classrooms were built with a $20,000 grant awarded to Keep Anderson County Beautiful in the spring of 2012. The grant was from Lowe’s Charitable and Educational Foundation.

The new outdoor classrooms each include an 18-foot by 36-foot concrete pad with a covered pavilion and picnic tables that allow students to see and study nature in all seasons and different weather, a press release said.

[Read more…]