The 2022 Keep Florida Beautiful Annual Conference & Awards Social, hosted in part by Keep Pasco Beautiful, took place October 19-21 in New Port Richey and brought together local affiliates, board members and community partners from around the state. We had not been together in-person for the annual conference since 2019, so this event was highly anticipated among our Florida network – and thanks to our sponsors (see below) and participants, it was a huge success!
The conference included engaging presentations by Keep America Beautiful (Mallory Coffey), Keep Pinellas Beautiful (Devon Francke), Lawrence Consulting (Whitney Lawrence), Moss & Mollusk (Ellie Moss), Ocean Conservancy (Sarah Kollar), Pasco County UF/IFAS Extension (Jim Moll) and USF Patel College of Global Sustainability (Dr. Brooke Hansen). In addition, great conversations were had by local affiliates as they shared the knowledge, experiences, challenges and successes that keep their local programs operating.
Of course, the Awards Social was a crowd favorite. This year’s awards were hand-painted by Florida artist Olivia Gonzalez (Garage Roses) using reclaimed Florida Cypress wood. This made for beautiful and unique upcycled awards that our recipients (see below) were thrilled to receive.
Congratulations 2022 Award Recipients!
Clean Community Award – Campbell Park Community, nominated by Keep Pinellas Beautiful
Outstanding Educational Involvement – Keep Lake Beautiful
Outstanding Partnership Award – Port Tampa Bay, nominated by Keep Tampa Bay Beautiful
Outstanding Program Award – Keep Pensacola Beautiful
Outstanding Project Award – Keep Coral Gables Beautiful
Outstanding Youth Champion Award – Sherry Habib, nominated by Keep Pinellas Beautiful
Volunteer of the Year Award – Rachael Delekta, nominated by Keep Martin Beautiful
Adopt-A-Program Recognition – Richard Reyes & the Litter Hikers of America, nominated by Keep Palm Beach County Beautiful
Spectacular Service Award – Lottie Kelley, nominated by Keep Pasco Beautiful
Affiliate of the Year – Keep Indian River Beautiful
KFB’s A1 Since Day 1 – Bryan Bobbitt, Keep Brevard Beautiful
KFB Legislative Champion Award – Senator Gayle Harrell