Give Back: Keep Austin Beautiful

We are thankful to live in such a fabulous place. How can we make sure it stays that way? We’ll be bringing you ideas on how you can keep Austin a special place all year long in our Give Back series.

In our past Give Back articles, we talked about food and we talked about diapers. This week, we’re talking about something a little less tangible, but by no means less important. We Austinites loves our outdoor spaces, but with a rapidly increasing population, some of our favorite spaces need our help to keep them looking beautiful. That’s where Keep Austin Beautiful comes in. The organization has been around for 30 years, and works to provide resources and education to engage citizens in building more beautiful communities. Keep Austin Beautiful’s programs include:

• Community Cleanups – The organization helps mobilize volunteers by providing supplies, trash collection and volunteer recruitment for areas in the community that need attention.
• Adopt-a-Creek – In partnership with the City of Austin Watershed Protection Department, citizens can adopt a 1/4 mile segment of a waterway for a minimum of 2 years.
• Adopt-a-Street – Groups can adopt at least 1/2 mile within the City of Austin for one year.
• Clean Lady Bird Lake – In partnership with the City of Austin Watershed Protection Department, citizens can participate in large-scale cleanups every other month.
• Youth Education – Hands-on, multidisciplinary activities for elementary through high school students, including activity kits for check out and service projects for scouting troops.

Through these programs, Keep Austin Beautiful is able to mobilize over 20,000 volunteers annually and engage over 10,000 kids in keeping our city’s green spaces clean.

Ways to Give:

• Make a tax-deductible donation to the organization.
• Volunteer one of the Lady Bird Lake cleanups or at one of the other cleanup events. Click here for upcoming volunteer opportunities and here to sign up for the weekly Volunteer Opportunities eNews.
• Organize a location for the 2016 Clean Sweep, a city-wide service day spanning over 100 sites throughout Austin. The 2015 event was held in early April.
• Adopt-a-creek or street with a group. Make a longer-term commitment to one of our city’s waterways or streets.
  

Many of you have seen the trees that are decorated during the holidays along Highway 360 near Bull Creek in north central Austin. The sad truth is that some of the folks who decorate the trees do not clean up after the holidays, and wind can carry leftover materials into waterways and harm wildlife. You can help by participating in the 4th Annual Highway 360 Cleanup 2016.

The goal is to restore Highway 360 back to its unadorned and natural state. Meet at 9am on Saturday, January 9, 2016 at the lot in front of Canyon Springs Apartments at Bull Creek. All collected decorations will be picked up and donated. Keep Austin Beautiful will provide hot cocoa, coffee, and snacks for volunteers!

7700 North Capital of Texas Highway
Austin, Texas 78731

There is plenty of parking but please carpool if you can!

RSVP here
Saturday 1/9/2016 9:00 AM – 11:00 AM

Here are some other organizations working in Central Texas to keep our outdoor spaces vibrant and healthy:

• Austin Green Art
• Austin Parks Foundation
• Austin Youth River Watch
• The Nature Conservancy, Texas Chapter
• The Trail Foundation
• TreeFolks
• Wildflower Center