Tuesday, September 27, 2005

The Keep Tennessee Beautiful Advisory Council met today at the Hachland Retreat Center and Vineyard in Joelton.  Tom Salter of KKB attended as a citizen representative of the KAB affiliates in Tennessee.  It was a great meeting.  Our facilitator was Betty Wingfield from the Center for Non Profit Management.  Here is a picture of Betty in action:



Today we covered the basics of Keep Tennessee Beautiful and the role of the Advisory Council presented by Edith Heller, KTB State Leader.  Doug Delaney of TDOT was our keynote speaker for lunch.  After lunch we had an informal discussion with representatives from several State agencies that are seeking strategic partnerships with Keep Tennessee Beautiful local affiliates.  We heard from TDEC, Tourism, Economic Development, TDOT and the Department of Safety.  I'll give you a list of everyone who attended tomorrow.

- posted by KKB staff at 10:45 PM CST

Monday, September 26, 2005

Another BIG day for KKB.  The judge panel met to review the News Sentinel Environmental Achievement Award nominees.  They did a great job.  If you come to the Orchids & Onions Awards banquet you will see witness first hand what a good job they did.  Here is a picture of them hard at work: (l-r) Mark Penland of TDEC, Paul James of Ijams Nature Center and Kelley Segar of the Smart Trips Program.



Then we had a going away party for Emily Ditty our program coordinator.  Emily is moving to Colorado with her husband Michael.  We will really miss her.  She had already landed another non-profit job with the Retired Senior Volunteer Program of Boulder.  Everybody came to see her.  Emily is in every picture so you can figure out who she is.   Her visitors were (starting with the top left): Cheryl Jenkins, Suzanne Cada and Liza Zenni of the Arts & Culture Alliance (our neighbors at the Emporium), KKB board president elect Harold Byrd, Sara Hart of the Knox County Recycling Program, KKB board president Cassandra McGee, board VP Terry Faulkner, immediate past president Page Pratt, Knox County Solid Waste Director John Evans and board secretary Sarah Surak.  Bye Emily!!!

- posted by KKB staff at 7:15 PM

Friday, September 23, 2005

Today was the big Pellissippi State Balloon Festival.  City of Knoxville Recycling and Keep Knoxville Beautiful shared an information booth.  John Homa and Tom Salter set up the booth Friday morning and there were already some balloon pilots showing off for the media.  Later that day the balloon pilots offered tethered rides and the day finished off with a "balloon glow".  It was very nice.  Becky Ford of SP Recycling provided clear recycling containers for bottles and cans and for the most part the public did a really good job of putting their trash "in the right place".

- posted by KKB staff at 10:25 PM

Wednesday, September 21, 2005

Today, the Orchids & Onions judges met at the KKB office to review all the nominations.  They completed their task and the winners will be announced in a few weeks at the Orchids & Onions Awards Banquet, Tuesday, October 11, 2005, 6:30 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. at The Foundry.  It will be a lot of fun and maybe a few surprises.  The judges used their prerogative to reclassify one Orchid nominee into a different category and made it a winner.  They also wanted to award all five Onions to one property, but our board asked them to name four other Onions Winners.  Pictured below (l-r) are: Knox Heritage President Finbarr Saunders, Architect Buzz Goss, Janet Oakes of the Knox County Council of Garden Clubs, KCDC Commissioner Craig Griffith and Garry Menendez, UT Ag School landscaping expert. 

- posted by KKB staff at 4:30 PM

Thursday, September 15, 2005

Today, Mayor Haslam invited some community leaders to lunch and a conversation with Governor Bredeson.  Everybody was there.  It was very interesting.  Much of the discussion involved what Haslam and Bredeson learned from the Hurricane Katrina disaster and future implications for our city and state.  It was a lot fun and very hot, but not as hot as Cortney's wedding.

- posted by KKB staff at 2:15 PM

Tuesday, September 13, 2005

Tom made a presentation to a Knox County Council of Garden Clubs conference this morning at the Racheff Gardens on Tennessee Avenue.  There were a lot of good speakers including Ed Paisley of the Dogwood Arts Festival, David Vandergriff of the Agricultural Extension Service and David Dotson of the Dollywood Foundation.  Pictured below are Council leader Alice Robertson and Tom Simpson, State of Tennessee Urban Forester for East Tennessee.  They are holding one of a series of Smoky the Bear nature posters that were so popular with the group I thought a riot was going to break out.

- posted by KKB staff at 12:00 Noon

Monday, September 12, 2005

Today there was a meeting, but not just your ordinary meeting.  KKB hosted a regional planning session for KAB affiliate directors from 8 counties including: Dottie Dunn of Roane County, Carla Sexton of Cocke County, Joyce Petrak of Loudon County, Debi Stevenson of Morristown/Hamblen County, Judy Patterson of Monroe County, Allison Teeters of Sevier County and Kristi Falco of Blount County.  There was a lot of information shared about how the various programs operate.  The high point was a discussion about doing a regional marketing campaign that would strengthen all the affiliates and attract new partners to our programs.  The theme of the marketing campaign is top secret for now.  Stay tuned here for more developments.

- posted by KKB staff at 4:30 PM

Sunday, September 11, 2005

KKB had a booth at the Fort Sanders Revival, a street fair designed to invite students to get involved in Fort Sanders neighborhood activities.

- posted by KKB staff at 4:30 PM

Wednesday, September 7, 2005

The KKB Orchids & Onions Committee met today to review the status of nominations, judges, etc.  Later, the board of the Tennessee Valley Earth Partnership met at KKB's conference room.

- posted by KKB staff at 4:30 PM

Tuesday, September 6, 2005

KKB board president Cassandra McGee and executive director Tom Salter both appeared on the WVLT noon show to pitch nomination for the Orchids & Onions Awards.

- posted by KKB staff at 1:45 PM

Friday, September 2, 2005

Two of KKB's most important partners, the South Knox and Bearden Beautification Committees both agreed to purchase several cases of gloves form community-wide cleanup efforts.  This will be a tremendous help to KKB's neighborhood cleanup efforts and both groups are thanked for their support.

- posted by KKB staff at 1:15 PM

Thursday, September 1, 2005

Today was the first Thursday of the month and that means it was time for KKB's regular board meeting.  Most of the meeting involved discussion of the status of the Orchids & Onions Awards event which is moving along nicely.