Georgia Magazine - April 2017 - 9

Earth Day is every day

everal Georgia organizations and
individuals took home honors,
including two of the most prestigious awards presented, at the Keep
America Beautiful (KAB) national
conference Jan. 24 in Washington,
D.C. Established in 1953, KAB is a
nonprofit organization that engages
citizen volunteers in litter prevention,
recycling and beautifying their communities.
Keep Liberty Beautiful, based
in Hinesville, won the Cigarette Litter Prevention Program Award. For
six years, the organization's volunteers have campaigned to decrease
cigarette litter through awareness
events and partnerships with local
organizations. Ten ash receptacles
were installed in the community and
hundreds of portable ashtrays were
handed out to smokers, thanks to a
grant from Keep America Beautiful.
Keep Golden Isles Beautiful
(Brunswick) earned an Award of Excellence for its litter-prevention program along Georgia's beaches and
coastal estuaries; its work with the
Glynn County government to establish stricter litter ordinances; and its
annual School Recycling Challenge
partnership with 11 local schools.
The Keep Macon-Bibb Beautiful
Commission (Macon) also garnered

an Award of Excellence for its creative
litter-prevention programs; work with
Rivers Alive to clean up the Ocmulgee River; and beautification projects,
including daffodil plantings and the
sale and plantings of cherry trees.
Keep Smyrna Beautiful (Smyrna)
earned a Sustained Excellence Award
for its anti-litter campaigns and ordinances, litter-free city concerts and
Adopt-A-Mile roadway-litter cleanups.
National Community Improvement Awards went to Keep AthensClarke County Beautiful (Athens) for
beautification and community-greening efforts; the South Cobb Lions
Club (Marietta) for litter prevention
and roadway cleanups; and the Keep
Macon-Bibb Beautiful Commission
and Keep Warner Robins Beautiful
(Warner Robins) for their shared removal of 3 tons of trash along State
Route 247.
Keep Georgia Beautiful also was
recognized with a Diamond Level
Award, the highest honor for a state
affiliate.
Atlanta-based Coca-Cola Co.
was awarded the inaugural Carolyn
Crayton Award for its partnerships
with Keep Georgia Beautiful and the
70 KAB affiliates throughout the
state, especially its 43-year relationship with the Keep Macon-Bibb

COURTESY KEEP AMERICA BEAUTIFUL

Georgians garner national awards for litter cleanup, prevention, recycling

From left, Keep Smyrna Beautiful Director
Ann Kirk and Board Member Ed Plansker
accept the Sustained Excellence Award
from Becky Lyons, Keep America Beautiful
chief operating officer, at the KAB national
conference.

Beautiful Commission.
Atlantan Kevin Perry, a Keep
Georgia Beautiful board member for
16 years who has raised more than
$1 million for the organization, was
honored with the Iron Eyes Cody
Award for personal commitment,
advocacy and volunteer leadership.
Perry also serves on the boards of
the Georgia Chamber of Commerce,
Georgia Recycling Coalition, Committee for a Better Atlanta and the
Piedmont Heights Civic Association.
For more about Keep Georgia
Beautiful and its affiliate organizations, visit keepgeorgiabeautiful.org.

Georgia chef to be featured at Kentucky Derby

C
ANGIE MOSIER

Virginia Willis
For Steeplechase and Derby Day recipes,
turn to Georgia Cooks on page 38. And
for an exclusive Derby Day recipe from
Chef Virginia Willis, see page 40A of this
month's digital edition at georgiamaga
zine.org.

April 2017

ongratulations to Atlanta-based
chef and cookbook author Virginia Willis, chosen as this year's
featured celebrity chef at the 143rd
Kentucky Derby, set for May 6 in
Louisville, Ky. Willis will prepare
Southern cuisine for the highest of
high-rolling Derby-goers in the mostexclusive seats at Churchill Downs'
luxurious Mansion.
A classically trained French chef
with Southern roots, Willis received a
2016 James Beard Foundation Award
More online at www.georgiamagazine.org

of Excellence in the Focus on Health
category for her cookbook "Lighten
Up, Y'all: Classic Southern Recipes Made Healthy and Wholesome"
and was a finalist for Best American
Cookbook by the International Association of Culinary Professionals. Her
upcoming public television series,
"Secrets of the Southern Table: A
Food Lover's Tour of the Global
South," is in development.
Learn more about Willis at
virginiawillis.com.
9

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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Georgia Magazine - April 2017