City of Chicago and Keep Chicago Beautiful Team Up to “Fight Dirty” Alongside Volunteers for City-Wide Clean and Green Event

More than 6,000 Chicago-area volunteers worked together on Saturday, May 17, for a cleaner, greener America by participating in Mayor Richard Daley’s annual city-wide clean and green initiative, part of a larger national effort led by Keep America Beautiful.  Locally, year-round cleanup, greening and recycling activities are led by Chicago’s Streets

Chicago Mayor Richard Daley addresses crowd at chicago kickoff event. Ceremonial tree planting at Ping Tom Park. Chicago Streets & Sanitation's litter patrol boat on duty. (Photos by Warren Skalski Photography.)

and Sanitation and Keep Chicago Beautiful. During Chicago's Great American Cleanup kickoff celebration on May 17, activities included beautifying parks and recreation areas, picking up litter, removing illegal dumpsites, river cleanups, recycling activities, and more throughout the wards of Chicago.

Joining Mayor Daley were Katie Loovis, Director of External Affairs for U.S. Department of the Interior and Executive Director of Take Pride in America; Chicago Streets & Sanitation Commissioner Michael Picardi; Keep Chicago Beautiful President Joyce Kagan-Charmatz; Keep America Beautiful President & CEO Matthew McKenna; and Keep America Beautiful Senior Vice President and Great American Cleanup Managing Director Gail Cunningham.

The kickoff celebration took place at Ping Tom Park Pavilion and was highlighted by the presentation of a President's Volunteer Service Award by Katie Loovis to Chicago's Betty Jo Swanson, who has served as president of the 79th Carpenter Block Club, a model for the rest of Chicago; Ted Banks, who is one of the founders of Keep Chicago Beautiful and is its current treasurer; and Thomas Green, who has been a church volunteer since the mid-1950s as well as a volunteer for Meals on Wheels for AIDs patients and a block club present for 10 years. Loovis commended  them all on their volunteer service. 

During the day's many activities, the Chicago Streets & Sanitation Department also unveiled its new $600,000 patrol boat, which takes garbage out of the Chicago River and decontaminates the water. The boat also has the capacity to remove graffiti from the banks of the river.

"Keep America Beautiful is extremely proud to be included in Mayor Daley’s Spring Clean & Green Day, which has been going on now for 20 years," McKenna said. "We’re pleased to team up with the City’s Streets and Sanitation Department, Keep Chicago Beautiful, the Mayor’s Office, and representatives from the federal government to make this day even more meaningful to Chicagoans.

"We are confident that in addition to the leadership of Mayor Daley and Streets & Sanitation Commissioner Michael Picardi, Keep Chicago Beautiful will also make a difference in Chicago’s qualify of life, just as each and every one of you continue to make a significant difference in your own neighborhood’s well-being," McKenna added.