This Thanksgiving week, Keep Texas Beautiful would like to give thanks each day to a different member of our Keep Texas Beautiful family. Check this blog each day in the lead-up to Thanksgiving to learn more about the wonderful people and organizations who create positive change in Texas.

First up, the people who are out every day doing the work that matters – our 406 community affiliate organizations across Texas who educate upwards of 22 million Texans on sustainability and environmental issues. Affiliates are qualifying organizations in cities, counties and/or communities that work alongside Keep Texas Beautiful in our mission to engage all Texans in improving their communities’ environments. Keep Texas Beautiful affiliates are wonderfully diverse, with organizations that are both small and large, that are part of the local government or part of a local church group. The common thread between each and every affiliate is their dedication. Each one of our affiliates bring together incredibly dedicated volunteers from all walks of life, organizing and uniting communities around a positive goal.

Every year, our affiliates participate in numerous Keep Texas Beautiful and Keep American Beautiful programs, such as the Don’t Mess with Texas Trash-Off, the Great American Cleanup and the KTB Fall Sweep. Not only that, but our affiliates also organize their own cleanups, design recycling programs and work independently to change their communities for the better. This past year, our affiliates achieved incredible things across the state. They organized 111,399 volunteers across Texas for 556,995 hours to improve our environment. Most impressively, our affiliates’ organized efforts that collected over 5 million pounds of trash from Texas landscapes and created hundreds of civic improvement projects. From Dalhart to Brownsville, it is these incredible contributions that truly keep Texas beautiful – without our affiliates, none of this would be possible.  

We are incredibly thankful for all the hard work and dedication shown by our affiliate organizations this year and every year. This Thanksgiving, Keep Texas Beautiful gives thanks to our affiliates for all the incredible work you put into keeping Texas beautiful. If your organization is interested in becoming an affiliate member, or learning more about our affiliate members, please visit our website.