Keep Moore County Beautiful Inc. received the Keep America Beautiful President's Circle Award at the President's Circle Award ceremony, recently conducted during Keep America Beautiful's 58th annual National Conference in New Orleans.

The President's Circle Award recognizes exemplary performance made by certified affiliates of the national nonprofit to reduce litter, minimize waste and recycle, and beautify their local communities.

In qualifying for the award, Keep Moore County Beautiful met Keep America Beautiful's standards of excellence by conducting an annual Community Appearance Index, calculating the affiliate's cost/benefit ratio, and engaging volunteers to take greater responsibility for their community environment.

In addition, award recipients conducted activities in Keep America Beautiful's three core focus areas of litter prevention, recycling and waste reduction, and beautification and community greening.

"One of Keep America Beautiful's most effective tools is the work of our grass-roots network of affiliate organizations, which has an impact on millions of Americans each year," says Keep America Beautiful President and CEO Matthew M. McKenna. "Our affiliates are providing real solutions to problems like litter, graffiti, illegal dumping and other community blights. By engaging volunteers of all ages in community improvement efforts, Keep Moore County Beautiful is promoting values that Keep America Beautiful espouses on a local level."

The Keep America Beautiful Community Appearance Index-Litter Index is a tool used by KAB affiliates to visually assess overall appearance of communities through indicators such as litter, illegal signs, graffiti, abandoned/junk vehicles and outside storage.

A team of community, business and government representatives conducts the visual analysis using a scoring system ranging from 1 to 4, with "1" rated as "no litter" to "4" being "extremely littered."

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.

A cost/benefit analysis enables Keep America Beautiful affiliates to demonstrate their ability to leverage community resources by determining the dollar value returned to the community for every dollar invested by government.

Keep Moore County Beautiful 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," says 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 donations and proceeds from the annual Keep Moore County Beautiful Marge Owings Memorial Golf Tournament, held each year on Mother's Day weekend. The next tournament is scheduled for Saturday, May 12.

For additional information, visit www.keepmoorecountybeautiful. org.