NNewsSpring 2003 5_14 - Keep America Beautiful

VOLUNTEER SPOTLIGHT
IRON EYES CODY AWARD
Jim Steele (left) received the Iron Eyes Cody
Award from Keep America Beautiful
President Ray Empson.
Jim Steele, chairman of Gwinnett Clean &
Beautiful, GA, is the recipient of the 2002
Iron Eyes Cody Award, in recognition of his
decades of commitment to environmental
education for youth and adults, and his leadership
role in increasing public awareness
about activities that preserve and enhance
natural resources and minimize waste.
Steele’s work stretches back 35 years,
when as a young engineering graduate he
first built schools using state of the art
practices to minimize erosion, reduce
waste, conserve water and use building
materials wisely. In the 1970s he saw the
need for environmental education in his community, and so formed Gwinnett
Clean and Beautiful (GC&B) with other concerned citizens. For decades, Steele’s
tireless involvement and positive influence on GC&B’s Citizens Advisory Board
has helped GC&B become a regional and national leader in providing grassroots
environmental solutions.
His goals for educating his community are based on sound science. Steele
has helped educate more than one million citizens about conserving natural
resources, waste management, and water and air quality issues. He developed
the Clean Schools program to educate all 190,000 students and 10,000 faculty
on ways to keep schools clean.
Steele was also instrumental in implementing Keep America Beautiful’s
Waste in Place and Waste: A Hidden Resource curricula in each of Gwinnett’s 87
county schools. Through this effort, the eighth class of students has graduated
after completing 13 years of comprehensive environmental education. As school
system’s director of public safety, he has led the county-wide effort to establish a
Graffiti Hurts coalition.
Steele spearheaded the effort to design and construct the Recycling Bank of
Gwinnett. Currently, more than 120 community groups, 13,000 individuals and
60 businesses use the bank. This recycling facility has grown from a 2,000 square
foot center to a 20,000 square foot, 100 ton per day intermediate processing center
for recyclables. It is a state and national model for recycling facilities and is the
seventh largest recycling facility in Metro Atlanta.
Steele believes in involving volunteers and saving tax dollars. He led the effort
to develop and implement a comprehensive solid waste management plan for
Gwinnett’s 600,000 citizens. Because of his work, the county saved $250,000.
His leadership in litter prevention programs also resulted in a sustained 70 percent
or better reduction of litter in major areas. During the past 12 months his
efforts have involved more than 195,000 volunteers and returned more than $30
in benefits to citizens for every $1 invested by county government.
Jim Steele has served as chairman of GC&B since 1989, and has received
many accolades while he helps Keep America Beautiful’s presence grow. In 1990,
he was awarded Keep America Beautiful’s first Chairman of the Year Award, and
in 1998 he received the Keep Georgia Beautiful Man of the Year Award. Steele
donates his time to help other communities develop their own Keep America
Beautiful affiliate programs. He helped found the Metro Atlanta Keep America
Beautiful Partnership, which includes 16 affiliates.
“Jim Steele’s leadership ability has made a dramatic difference in the environmental
practices of thousands of young people and adults,” said KAB President G.
Raymond Empson. “Like Iron Eyes Cody, he is an example of the power of an
individual to be a catalyst for change.”
The Iron Eyes Cody Award was named in honor of Keep America Beautiful’s
landmark public awareness campaign of the 1970s, “People Start Pollution.
People Can Stop It,” which features the iconic face and tear of Iron Eyes Cody and
is credited with awakening the environmental consciousness of an entire generation.
This award honors outstanding men for their leadership in raising public
awareness of the importance of litter prevention, community beautification and
improvement, responsible solid waste management, and preserving and enhancing
natural resources and public lands.
MRS. LYNDON B. JOHNSON AWARD
The recipient of the 2002 Mrs. Lyndon B. Johnson Award is Rachel L. Cooper,
for her tireless years of work in beautification and anti-litter initiatives that have
helped make her community grow and prosper as a safer and more beautiful
place to live.
Cooper first became involved with Keep Indianapolis Beautiful (KIB) in
1996, through the Glad Bag-a-Thon, the precursor to the Great American
Cleanup, and then Project 180 IPL Revive-a-Neighborhood. As president of
the South East Community Organization (SECO), a volunteer post, she and
SECO each year plant a new garden or beautify a new spot. These include
median beautification at two major intersections, a children’s garden, and beautification
of the baseball park where her summer baseball teams play. This year
SECO beautified the entrance to Capitol City Metals, an automobile shredding
business whose property had been looked at unfavorably by some in the community.
Cooper decided that partnering and relationship-building would benefit
the community more than fighting, and so with help from the company, KIB
and local volunteers, she led the beautification of the property entrance by
planting trees, shrubs, flowers and a brick wall enclosing the raised beds.
SECO has truly flourished under Cooper’s direction. When she first became
president, the organization had $37.50 in the bank and very little community
support. With her leadership and fund-raising skill, they now bring in enough
funds to support eight teams of 17 children each in a summer baseball league,
as well as a crew of up to 35 youth who work each summer at house painting,
grass cutting for the elderly, and weekly trash cleanups.
SECO also plans anywhere
from 12 to 20 cleanup events
through the Great American
Cleanup TM . Cooper hosts a “community
dumpster” for heavy trash
items provided by the Department
of Public Works. Twice a year she
hosts a mobile transfer station in
which the city supplies a trash
truck, dumpster and truck with
mechanical claw for very heavy
items. At this time residents can
drop off anything they wish at no
charge; both Cooper and the
Department of Public Works
believe this keeps many of these
items from ending up in illegal dumpsites.
Keep America Beautiful President Ray Empson (left),
Mrs. Lyndon B. Johnson Award winner Rachel
Cooper (center) and former Keep Indianapolis
Beautiful President Greg Fennig (right).
In addition to these busy activities, Cooper still finds time to serve as a
crime watch block captain, as she has for the past 15 years. Since 1994, she
has been instrumental in the removal of 48 drug houses in her community.
She is also an active volunteer member of the Southside Community Court,
which puts community work service offenders back into the community
where they committed their crime.
“Rachel Cooper’s ability to draw people together to accomplish environmental
goals is remarkable,” said G. Raymond Empson, President of Keep
America Beautiful. “She has taught by leadership and example the dramatic
change that one inspired person can bring.”
keep america beautiful — NETWORK NEWS — spring 2003 page 11