Keep Moore County Beautiful (KMCB) has received the Keep America Beautiful President's Circle Award.

The presentation took place at the President's Circle Award Luncheon during Keep America Beautiful's 55th annual National Conference in Washington, D.C. The President's Circle Award recognizes exemplary performance made by certified affiliates of the national nonprofit to reduce litter, minimize waste, and beautify and improve their local communities.

In qualifying for a President's Circle Award, KMCB has met Keep America Beautiful's standards of excellence by conducting an annual Litter Index, calculating the affiliate's cost/benefit ratio, and engaging volunteers to take greater responsibility for their community environment. In addition, award recipients must conduct activities in Keep America Beautiful's three core focus areas of litter prevention, waste reduction, and beautification/community improvement.

"Keep America Beautiful is committed to making a simple premise work in communities across the nation -- engaging individuals to take greater responsibility for improving their community environments," said Keep America Beautiful President and CEO Matthew McKenna. "One of the national organization's most effective tools is the work of our grassroots network of affiliate organizations, which has an impact on millions of Americans each year.

"Our affiliates are providing real solutions to problems like litter, graffiti, illegal dumping and other community blights," added McKenna, in announcing the 2008 award winners. "By enabling people of all ages to participate in community improvement efforts, Keep Moore County Beautiful is represented among the best in promoting the values Keep America Beautiful espouses nationally."

Litter Index: The Keep America Beautiful litter index is a tool used by KAB affiliates to measure litter from year to year, identify "hot spots," and track their progress in remedying the problem.

The tool uses a four-point Likert-type ordinal scale (ranging from 1-no litter to 4extremely littered).

The litter index can be applied to rural or urban areas of any population size. Each year, affiliates grade their communities during a drive-by examination of the same areas at the same time of the year. This provides an indication of the success of each community's anti-littering education and other anti-littering programs.

KMCB conducted its litter index this past spring. Moore County rated a 2.0 on the scale, which is slightly higher than the rating of 1.91 and 1.92 for 2007 and 2006, respectively.

Cost/Benefit Analysis: This measurement tool enables Keep America Beautiful affiliates to demonstrate their ability to leverage community resources by determining the dollar value returned to the community for every government dollar invested.

KMCB Inc. is a local volunteer-based organization that has been an active affiliate of the national Keep America Beautiful, Inc. System since 1988.

"Our mission is to enhance the quality of life and community pride of Moore County citizens through improving the public's attitude and behavior in handling solid waste, natural resource conservation and beautification," said Joan Neal, executive director. "Our organization works closely and partners with many state and local agencies and organizations, which include the N.C. Division of Pollution Prevention and Environmental Assistance, N.C. Department of Transportation, N.C. Big Sweep, N.C. Keep America Beautiful Inc., Moore County Cooperative Extension Master Gardeners Program, Moore County Jail Inmate Work Program, Moore County Solid Waste, Moore County public and private schools, and various businesses and civic groups.

This nonprofit organization operates on funding through memberships, donations and proceeds from the annual Keep Moore County Beautiful Marge Owings Memorial Golf Tournament held each year on Mothers Day weekend. This year's event is scheduled for Saturday, May 9.

Anyone needing more information can visit its Web site at www.keepmoorecountybeautiful.org.