Irving, TX, October 24, 2024 –On Sept. 28, Keep Irving Beautiful (KIB) welcomed 16 International Paper employee and family volunteers to Running Bear Park, 2601 S. Story Road, for a National Public Lands Day event. Volunteers helped beautify the popular park by painting the metal safety fencing near the playground and conducting a cleanup of the park. The results were a fresh look to the fence and 100 pounds of litter collected, with 50 pounds being recyclable. The group’s combined efforts contributed a total of 48 volunteer service hours to KIB.
National Public Lands Day (NPLD) is the nation’s largest single-day volunteer event for public lands, held annually on the fourth Saturday in September. Since 1994, NPLD has brought together hundreds of thousands of volunteers to help restore America’s public lands. This project was coordinated through a partnership with the National Environmental Education Foundation (NEEF).
International Paper (IP), founded in 1898, is the world’s largest pulp and paper company. Volunteers at this event came from three different facilities in the area.
“Keep Irving Beautiful is always happy to welcome corporate partners to Irving parks,” said KIB board member Kelly Horn. “We appreciate that International Paper chose KIB as a community partner for their National Public Lands Day project.”
Keep Irving Beautiful is a nonprofit organization dedicated to educating the community about litter abatement, recycling, and beautification to help preserve the health and promote the social and economic prosperity of the city. As an award-winning affiliate of Keep America Beautiful and Keep Texas Beautiful, Keep Irving Beautiful reaches out to all sectors of the community, including government, businesses, churches, as well as cultural, educational, neighborhood and civic organizations.