Keep Fort Mill Beautiful, a volunteer committee appointed by Fort Mill Town Council, is now an official Keep America Beautiful affiliate.

Joseph Berry, PalmettoPride's affiliate services manager, presented the certification Monday, Aug. 24, at a Fort Mill Town Council meeting. Mayor Guynn Savage praised the new designation.

"It is an amazing gift to Fort Mill," Savage said at the meeting, according to WRHI. The Town of Fort Mill said on X that Savage also thanked the committee for its work.

Keep Fort Mill Beautiful (KFMB) joins roughly 40 certified and pre-certified affiliates statewide under Keep South Carolina Beautiful, a division of the nonprofit PalmettoPride.

The committee spent the past year completing two training sessions led by Keep America Beautiful. Members developed bylaws, a mission statement, an advisory board and a multiyear plan for litter prevention, recycling and beautification. Ivelina Dean, chair of the KFMB committee, said the group looks forward to championing the organization's core values and building cleaner, more engaged communities.

KFMB has already put that work into practice. Volunteers helped establish pollinator gardens at Harris and Steele Street parks, organized the town's participation in America Recycles Day and the Great Southeastern Pollinator Census, and coordinated regular litter pickups across Fort Mill.

Berry said the committee has shown commitment by implementing new strategies to meet Keep America Beautiful's focus areas of litter, recycling and beautification. PalmettoPride covered the upfront certification costs and provided a startup grant. The nonprofit also supplies ongoing training, technical assistance and access to additional funding for local projects.

The statewide network has grown steadily. When PalmettoPride brought Keep South Carolina Beautiful under its umbrella in 2006, the state had four affiliates. A PalmettoPride annual report showed 38 by fiscal year 2023; the current count stands at roughly 40.

KFMB's next milestone: the 2026 SC Litter Summit in Myrtle Beach, Wednesday, Sept. 9, through Sept. 11, where the committee will join dozens of affiliates for training and program planning.