Coming Down to the Wire for the KVB60 Gala

We’re just days away from our biggest event ever, and the excitement is certainly building.

We’ve gathered over 100 fabulous items for both a silent and a live auction. Some of the highlights include:

There are numerous works of original artwork (and there will be artists creating original pieces at the event!), gift certificates and packages from shops, restaurants, and resorts from across the Commonwealth, and so much more.

And folks in the media are starting to take notice.

First up was a write up about our Gala in Richmond.com, shared by their parent publication The Richmond Times-Dispatch. They summed us up pretty well by saying, “Everyone knows littering is bad, right? Don’t throw your trash on the ground and pick up trash when you see it, not that hard.” Our mission has expanded over the last sixty years, with an emphasis on education and connecting like-minded groups and individuals, but we started out as “anti-litter,” and that’s still a core part of what we do.

This past weekend, a group of the living First Ladies of Virginia penned a statement of their support. They’ll be serving us as an honorary Gala Board on Saturday, October 5th, and Former First Lady Susan Allen will be speaking at the event. In an Op-Ed published September 29, they said:

“We current and former first ladies of Virginia join Keep Virginia Beautiful in the mission of improving our natural and scenic environment. We are proud to raise awareness and support litter prevention, recycling, beautification and environmental education.”

We also heard a bit from our Executive Director Mike Baum over the weekend. In a Q&A, he talked about the history of our organization, some of the things that we’ve done around Virginia, our vision for the future, and, of course, the KVB60 Gala. We also learned that Mike is a die-hard Hokies fan.

Mike woke up early Monday morning and hit the airwaves.

First thing in the morning, he headed over to the Richmond CBS affiliate to talk with the folks at WTVR. After a quick check-in at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts (our host for the KVB60 Gala), he dashed over to the WRIC studios to fill in the Richmond ABC watchers. On Friday, he’ll appear on WWBT-NBC12 in Richmond during their noon newscast.

Busy guy!

We’re very thankful to so many individuals, corporate leaders, and others who have done so much to help us to bring this event to life. In addition to auction items, we’ve had donations of time, goods, and funding. These gifts have helped us to produce this event, and together with your purchase of tickets, will help us continue to keep Virginia beautiful for the next sixty years.

There are still tickets available. Click here to make your purchase today. We hope to see you on Saturday the 5th. If you cannot attend, but still wish to make a difference, you can participate in our Give 60 program.

And, as always, remember the little things that each of us does every day to Keep Virginia Beautiful.