Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful Hosts Community Stewardship Summit
Left to right: Natasha Fackler, PA Department of Transportation; Joy Beckish, Young Ambassador 2025; Grace Beckish, Young Ambassador 2023; Shannon Reiter, President, Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful; Kristine Zeigler, CEO and Co-founder of Planet Women and keynote speaker; Kylie McCutcheon, Young Ambassador Program Coordinator, Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful; Hannah Harvey, Young Ambassador 2025; Elijah Majocha, Young Ambassador 2023; Kalub Schreiber, Young Ambassador 2024 and Phoebe Coles-Wetzel, Board Chair, Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful.
Left to right: Natasha Fackler, PA Department of Transportation; Joy Beckish, Young Ambassador 2025; Grace Beckish, Young Ambassador 2023; Shannon Reiter, President, Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful; Kristine Zeigler, CEO and Co-founder of Planet Women and keynote speaker; Kylie McCutcheon, Young Ambassador Program Coordinator, Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful; Hannah Harvey, Young Ambassador 2025; Elijah Majocha, Young Ambassador 2023; Kalub Schreiber, Young Ambassador 2024 and Phoebe Coles-Wetzel, Board Chair, Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful.
(The Abington Journal) Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful, in coordination with Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, Pennsylvania Department of Transportation and Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development, hosted affiliates, volunteers and community partners for a Summit for Community Stewardship.
The two-day event began with a walking tour of Scranton. Stations included stops at one of the city’s 130 sidewalk planters to discuss year-round greening, the county’s Gateway Building to discuss recruiting for long-term projects, Courthouse Square to observe two effective urban pollinator gardens, Christopher A. Doherty Park, a brownfield turned community asset and the Bee Mural by Matthew Wiley, to discuss the importance of art in urban areas.
The tour was followed by an evening reception where Scranton Tomorrow, an affiliate of Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful and America250PA partner, hosted Mayor Paige Cognetti for a declaration signing supporting the Greatest American Cleanup, a national three-year campaign to motivate, educate and celebrate communities to clean up and green up ahead of the Country’s 250th anniversary on July 4, 2026.
Keynote Speaker, Kristine Zeigler, CEO and Co-founder of Planet Women, examined the current leadership model in the U.S. and urged attendees to redefine leadership and tell newer, truer stories that are an antidote to inequality, despair, and environmental destruction. Zeigler was joined by three Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful Young Ambassador alumni who shared their views on environmental leadership within their communities.
Other special guests included Dave Forsell from Keep America Beautiful, who spoke to the power of beauty as a means to addressing environmental quality, public safety, and job creation. Additionally, Bob Anderson from Closed Loop Partners provided insights on the evolution of community recycling infrastructure.
The Summit also featured breakout sessions on litter in waterways and marine debris infrastructure, an audit of volunteer litter control programs, education and economic levers to improve communities.
