President's Award
In 2007, Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful initiated an award's program to honor volunteers who have demonstrated a sustained commitment and exceptional contributions on behalf of Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful to make our communities clean and beautiful. Each year, one individual is recognized for the distinction.
2011 – Nicole Chandler
As the leader of Keep Royal Gardens Beautiful, Nicole has led the cleanup and beautification of Morris Park in West Philadelphia over many years. Keep Royal Gardens Beautiful has held dozens of cleanups removing and properly disposing hundreds of tons of trash and invasive species! In addition, Nicole has led thousands of volunteers to create many garden areas and planted hundreds of various flowers, vegetables, and trees while generating significant in-kind donations. Under Nicole’s leadership, Keep Royal Gardens Beautiful has an extensive network of volunteers and partnering organizations. Recently, Keep Royal Gardens Beautiful has acquired permanent space at the Rose Recreation Center to do educational programming. Renovations are ongoing and she hopes to have school groups coming in by the beginning of the year! In 2008, Ebony Magazine recognized Nicole for her commitment to her community and was a Regional Winner for Woman of the Year.
One of my first memories of Nicole was back in 2007 or 2008 when Todd had just started with us. Todd’s job was to start new chapters so when Nicole came a knocking, we were all very happy- not to mention she was in that city way over there….Philadelphia! Nicole was so excited about working with us and taking us up on our grant writing support, she asked us to write a million dollar grant to the William Penn Foundation. Important to note, the William Penn Foundation, at the time, didn’t even know our name so we needed to adjust some expectations.
Since then though, it has been full steam ahead and we are so grateful to work with Nicole.
She has raised nearly $20,000 in grants from corporate partnerships such as Comcast Care Days and $47,561 worth of in-kind contributions for community cleanup and beautification projects in her community.
Nicole is a community sparkplug. She is a doer and she has truly made a difference in her community. Nicole Chandler is a shining example of how one person can truly make a difference. Nicole, thank you for working to make your community clean and beautiful!
2010 – Carl Williams
A founding father of PA CleanWays of Fayette County, Carl was recognized for giving generously of his time, strength, and knowledge to make his community a safer, more beautiful place for all.
2009 – Glenn Witherspoon
A priceless partner and friend to Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful since 1997, Glenn's spirit will live on through the Litter IQ and Recycling IQ boards that he helped create and that have educated over 100,000 people.
2008 – Pam Sechrist
Pam became an integral member of PA CleanWays of Mifflin County in 2004 and was recognized for her tireless efforts to coordinate illegal dump cleanups, special collections, and education programs within Mifflin County.
2007 – Gene Wolbert
A volunteer with PA CleanWays of Fayette County since 1994, Gene was recognized for volunteering hundreds of hours to help plan, implement, and participate in cleanups.