ABOUT US
Serving the Pickens County Community
Since 1989!
KPB has been educating, beautifying, and recycling for more than 30 years!
Keep Pickens Beautiful, formerly Citizens for a Clean Community, was founded in 1989. It was started by a group of concerned citizens striving to develop a clean and beautiful environment for Pickens County. As part of the Keep America Beautiful Program, KPB seeks to improve our quality of life by eliminating litter through increased public awareness. A key part of waste reduction is conservation – using natural resources wisely and using less than usual in order to avoid waste.
Keep Pickens Beautiful…. serving, educating, partnering, and leading by example.
Waste Reduction
Citizens for a Clean Community originally began to help Pickens County manage their waste. We worked with the county to strategize and plan how to reduce waste and limit the community’s environmental impact.
Today, Keep Pickens Beautiful still works closely with the county. Recycling services have continued to expand and in 2021, more than 1 Million pounds of material has been recycled! That equates to more than 1 Million pounds of waste diverted from the landfills to be recycled and reused!
Additionally, KPB works with local businesses and community events to assist with recycling efforts.
Learn more about KPB’s Recycling initiatives HERE.
Beautification
Keep Pickens Beautiful has focused on beautification projects throughout the county, including installing a Memorial Garden in Lee Newton Park, painting historical murals in Jasper, Talking Rock, and Marble Hill, and most recently, Edible Jasper.
In addition to our own projects, we recognize the extraordinary efforts of residents and businesses with our Green Awards.
The Green Ribbon is awarded to those who reduce their environmental impact through sustainable practices.
The Green Thumb is awarded to those who beautify the community with their gardening or landscaping.
Learn more about KPB’s beautification efforts HERE.
So much more….
Keep Pickens Beautiful is here to serve our community in any way we can.
We sponsor a variety of programs and events throughout the year including Adopt-A-Road and Edible Jasper. We work with schools and youth groups to offer educational activities. And we are here to help you, your business, or your group in any way we can!
Contact Us to join the Team!
The Board of Directors – 2024
President
Vered Kleinberger is the current president of KPB. She has been on the Board of Directors for more than 10 years and is extremely excited about what the future holds.
She is the owner of Veredesigns, providing marketing and graphic design to local businesses and organizations. Vered has worked in marketing and design since 2004, and is enjoying the flexibility that self-employment offers so she can dedicate time to projects like KPB.
Vered grew up in Marietta, went to college in Atlanta, and then moved to Vermont for a couple years. She had been coming to Pickens County for most of her life, and relocated here permanently in 2002. She began substituting in the local schools and tutoring students after school; this let her really get to know the community.
Vered also enjoys working in the yard, working on projects on her house, and working on her various veggie-oil powered vehicles…. You’ve probably seen her antique diesel Mercedes cars around town.
In 2006, Vered and her little sister drove throughout the Pacific Northwest, up through Canada, and over to Alaska, all powered by used veggie oil! She has been running her vehicles on grease since 2004. Additionally, she recycles and composts almost all her waste, producing less than a grocery-bag sized bag of trash per week!
Vice President
Bob Kenyon is the current KPB Vice President. He retired in 2017 after spending 43 years working for utilities or engineering consultants in drinking water, some stormwater management, and wastewater collection & treatment.
Bob lived in 3 states (NY, OH, & FL) before settling in Marble Hill, GA in 2007. He currently serves on the committee of Cub Scout Pack 20 and Boy Scout Troop 20 and has been an active Scouter for over 35 years.
As an active Trail Maintainer and a Trail Ambassador in the Georgia Appalachian Trail Club, he educates about Leave No Trace practices and more. He also volunteers at the Len Foote Hike Inn, which is an excellent example of waste reduction, recycling, reuse and more.
Bob is the chair of the Adopt-A-Road program because he hates litter, whether on the sides of the road, on trails, in campsites, or in camp fire rings. He picks up on his road, and he typically carries a trash bag while hiking.
His wife worked at Palm Beach County Solid Waste Authority for over 10 years so he is well aware of their recycling, composting, landfills and other tasks they performed.
In the Fall of 1971, during his Senior Year of College, Bob traveled around the world with World Campus Afloat (aka Semester at Sea). It was a phenomenal experience for a 20 year old. He borrowed the $ to do it–and paid it back!
Board Member
Kenny Woodard is the director of the Pickens Recycling Center. His goal while here at Pickens County Recycling is to make this new facility the best in North Georgia. He will provide a service that the people of Pickens will be proud of and will ensure that we are doing the best we can for the future of our world. Along with the help from KPB, together we can provide the best service this county needs.
Kenny was born in Floyd County and graduated from Gordon Central High School in 1987. He worked for Shaw Industries for 20 years, where he worked in the maintenance dept, was then promoted to trainer, then supervisor. He then became the Maintenance Supervisor where he built the machine equipment for that plant.
Kenny went back to college to obtain a technician trade in the electrician field and joined The Faus group as the Plant Electrician, working on PLC’s programing. From Faus, he worked at the Hayes State Prison as a Correctional Officer.
Then began Kenny’s adventures into recycling…. he worked for Floyd County as a Detail Officer for the Rome Floyd Recycling Center. After being there for a time, he was promoted to floor officer, then to Assistant Manager. At that time, they started designing a new Recycling Center for the county at a new location. Kenny had a big hand in designing the lay out of the machines and their placement.
At the beginning of 2020, Pickens County members toured the new Floyd Facility; Kenny led the tour, showing them the process. One thing led to another, and he was offered a job to come to Pickens County to build a new recycling center here.
Kenny has been married to his wife, Stephanie, for 25 years; they have 5 children. Stephanie is a financial consultant for Dr Vargo in Rome. She loves to camp at the lake and is active with the youth at their church. Zane, the oldest, is a veteran Marine who served 5 tours in Afghanistan and is married with 3 children. Amanda, their only daughter, is married, has a degree in business, and has given them a beautiful granddaughter, Rosie. Josh, their middle son, graduated from Berry College and is a school teacher in Rome. He is the defensive coordinator for Rome Middle School; while at Berry College, he played College Football and was head resident. Matthew, their 4th child, is attending Ga Highlands College to earn a degree in logistics, is employed with Eagle Rock, and is an outdoors man who loves working on cars. (He is always buying different cars to bring home to fix.) Samuel, their baby (15 yrs. old), is a football player in high school. He is about 5’11”, 185 lbs., and his favorite thing to do is fish.
For his enjoyment, Kenny loves to build with wood and cook. He like seeing things in his mind then making them.
Secretary
Jenna Prince-Farmer grew up in Jasper and attended the University of Georgia to study nutrition and dietetics.
After college Jenna moved to Asheville, NC and attended Western Carolina University to become a Registered Dietitian. She has worked 13 years in the field of nutrition and public health with emphasis on women and children’s health and wellness. She also has worked in her local community to design community health outreach programs for diabetes prevention, hypertension, obesity and general nutrition.
Jenna is excited to be a part of the Keep Pickens Beautiful board and is passionate about sustainable edible landscaping, food security, food justice, and the environment. Her hope is to work with Keep Pickens Beautiful by helping to expand Edible Jasper and other projects that promote healthy food systems.
In her spare time, she loves yoga, gardening, and reading about herbal medicine and nutrition. She lives in the Grandview Lake area with her husband and two children.
Board Member
Carol Opdenhoff
Board Member
Mary Ann Rentz
Board Member
Levy Rentz
Our Office Team
Nancy LaChance
Nancy LaChance is a member of the office staff team. She has been involved with KPB since 2015 as the adopter of Big Ridge Road, which she walks at least once monthly, picking up trash and making friends with her neighbors – bovine and human.
Nancy moved to the Jasper area in 2013 and retired after 30 years supporting the hardware and software used to deliver onsite and online coursework at a major multi-campus university. She is excited to apply her knowledge of technology and education to support the work of KPB in digitizing information, computerizing systems, and developing compelling educational materials.
Since moving to Jasper, Nancy has become an avid hiker who can be found most weekends hiking the various trails of North Georgia and neighboring states with her Wonder Dog, Frodo. She also serves the community with volunteer efforts at The Joy House, The Pregnancy Center, and Goshen Valley Boys’ Ranch.
Jenn Sorich
Jenn Sorich is a Chicago native who has traveled around the world many times, previously lived in California, and finally settled in North Georgia a few years ago when she bought land with her husband and built a small house and a very large garden. She is an environmentalist, having volunteered many times on recycling teams (especially at large music festivals). She lives an eco-friendly life, is passionate about eating healthy, local, seasonal, organic foods which was the driving force to own land. She will be helping out with the Edible Pickens gardens, running the social media pages, and will be reaching out to the community to find ways of collaborating on ways to Keep Pickens Beautiful. She’s new to the area and can’t wait to meet more of the community members!
The Board of Directors Through the Years
