The UPS Foundation Awards Keep America Beautiful Affiliates with Community Grants
(3BL Media / theCSRfeed) Stamford, Conn. - June 14, 2011 - The UPS Foundation awarded 13 Keep America Beautiful (KAB) affiliates with $10,000 community improvement grants, each supporting programs across the country that address recycling, beautification and community greening, litter prevention and waste reduction. The projects will take place during 2011 and into early 2012.
The grant awards were presented to KAB affiliates in recognition of their volunteer initiatives with local UPS locations throughout the United States. UPS employee volunteers will actively support many of these merit-based award programs in their respective communities.
“The UPS Foundation is a leader in supporting and initiating volunteer engagement throughout the country,” said Matthew M. McKenna, president and CEO, Keep America Beautiful. “Keep America Beautiful values this partnership because we know our affiliates will make significant and sustainable differences in their respective communities with the help of these grants.”
“The local affiliates of Keep America Beautiful continue to come up with creative approaches to addressing environmental challenges,” said Ken Sternad, president of The UPS Foundation. “UPS and our employees are proud to see it happen and stand ready to support projects that improve the communities where we live and work.”
The winning KAB affiliates and a description of their UPS Foundation-supported projects are:
Keep Arizona Beautiful (KAZB), through its Oasis Beautification Project, is seeking to mitigate the cumulative impact of blight in the Lower Grand Avenue neighborhood of Phoenix and convert the Oasis Hotel into an affordable housing project, which will offer 60 one-bedroom and studio live/work residential units, with an emphasis on serving the needs of local artists. KAZB will also reseed community and pedestrian infrastructure in adjoining, public rights-of-way.
Keep Oakland Beautiful is supporting volunteerism through its Community Small Grant Program, which is providing small dollar amount grants to neighborhood groups. These projects are awarded to groups who propose creative and highly visible projects ranging from neighborhood park makeovers to beautification of entire median strips.
After recognizing the overwhelming need in the community to support revitalization efforts in the neglected community of Indiantown, Keep Martin (Fla.) Beautiful (KMB) plans to coordinate a series of improvements to 10 different structures in need of painting and minor structural improvements as part of its Indiantown Makeover.
Santa Rosa (Fla.) Clean Community System will create a Recycling Innovation Station at the site of the old firehouse in the county seat of Milton. This site will not only have recycling centers, but will show off recycled materials and give out recycling information at the park adjacent to the area.
The goal of KAB – Topeka/Shawnee County’s “No Children Left Inside” program is to help local youth realize how important Earth is and to create a legacy in future environmentalists through fun and educational lesson plans that would include outdoor activities for youth of all ages.
Keep Covington (La.) Beautiful plans to create a Covington Nature Trail at the Covington Recreation Complex. The project will include planting supplementary native trees along the trail as well as providing educational information about trailside native plant species.
The goal of the Senior Citizens’ Center Landscaping Project is to install landscaping, an irrigation system, benches, and raised handicap accessible planters a new Center, which was destroyed during Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Keep Slidell Beautiful will involve senior citizens by forming a 15-member Senior Citizen’s Green Team trained by local Master Gardeners to plant and mulch shrubs, perennials, and ornamental trees.
About The UPS Foundation
UPS (NYSE: UPS) is a global leader in logistics, offering a broad range of solutions including the transportation of packages and freight; the facilitation of international trade, and the deployment of advanced technology to more efficiently manage the world of business. Since its founding in 1907, UPS has built a legacy as a caring and responsible corporate citizen, supporting programs that provide long-term solutions to community needs. Founded in 1951, The UPS Foundation, which celebrates its 60th anniversary in 2011, is responsible for facilitating community involvement to local, national, and global communities. The UPS Foundation can be found on the web at UPS.com/foundation. To get UPS news direct, visit pressroom.ups.com/RSS. UPS14595
