Since 2019, Young Professionals of Knoxville has partnered with Keep Knoxville Beautiful (KKB) and their Adopt-a-Road program to clean North Central Street. Road cleanups are one of the many ways YPK continues to help make a difference in our community. YPK has now decided to expand our adoption efforts. 

YPK is proud to announce that we have now adopted the Henley St. Bridge/Neyland Stadium river mile with Keep the Tennessee River Beautiful. We look forward to our first river cleanup as the weather warms up. This additional adoption will provide our members and community partners with another opportunity to serve and hopefully motivate more participation.

Keep the Tennessee River Beautiful is a 501(c)3 nonprofit that serves as the first Keep America Beautiful affiliate in the nation to focus solely on a river. Their mission is to educate and inspire people to take action to create a clean, healthy, beautiful Tennessee River for generations to come. 

Kathleen Gibi, Executive Director for Keep the Tennessee River Beautiful, says to date they have removed 532 tires and 3217 bags of trash, with most of the trash being containers and plastic bottles. 

Though their goal of 100,000 lbs of trash in 2021 seems ambitious, by mid-February they had already pulled out over 21,000 lbs of trash. YPK looks forward to making an impact in helping Keep the Tennessee River Beautiful reach their goal.

Kathleen noted how critical volunteers are in the process but also the benefits that come to those who volunteer. It’s “unexpectedly fun…so gorgeous…and people are surprised and really empowered by how much they can do.”

Tune in to the Happy News Group podcast to hear Kathleen talk about how they have hosted river cleanups along the 652-mile river and all of its tributaries, rallying over 1700 volunteers and removing over 183,000 lbs of trash since forming in 2016. 

Keep Knoxville Beautiful - Central Street Clean Up, March 2021

Thank you to everyone who came out to help us clean up North Central street at our most recent Keep Knoxville Beautiful Street Clean Up! It was a gorgeous day to get together and do some good. Check out the photos below of our most recent clean-up or click here to view the news coverage from WBIR.

YPK would also like to thank Axle Logistics for not only sponsoring this event but joining us in helping keep Knoxville beautiful! Support from local professionals, businesses, and organizations like Axle Logistics enables YPK to continue to provide our members with quality events to connect, develop, and serve the Knoxville community. Click here or visit our Partner with YPK page to learn more about sponsoring a future YPK event!