Photo of the Week

KGIB Places Second in National Award Competition, Wins $15,000 From left: KGIB’s Lahra Meusel and Lea King-Badyna announce the organization’s final national ranking. (provided photo) Local educational environmental nonprofit Keep Golden Isles Beautiful (KGIB) recently placed second in the national 2026 Cox Conserves Heroes Award competition and brings $15,000 home to the Golden Isles! Based entirely on project merit, KGIB reached the final three top organizations in the nonprofit category out of over one thousand competitive entries. A weeklong nationwide popular vote determined the ranking of the final three, with KGIB placing second. “We are thrilled to represent the Golden Isles in this way,” said KGIB executive director Lea King-Badyna. “And we are equally thrilled to bring the $15,000 second place prize home to our community where we will use it for continued community betterment activities such as our Stash Boat Trash program.” KGIB’s signature project, the annual Marsh Madness effort, was the central point of the organization’s nomination. Sponsored by Georgia-Pacific Brunswick Cellulose, the Marsh Madness salt marsh litter removal effort held each March has pulled 77 TONS of trash, including 724 tires and countless television sets, large appliances and toilets out of Glynn County and City of Brunswick salt marshes. In 2026 alone, volunteers removed 8.4 TONS of trash in 57 March salt marsh and marsh adjacent cleanups. In the Golden Isles, it is nobody’s job to remove salt marsh trash, and KGIB volunteers and community partners step in to help keep the estuarine environment as trash-free as possible. With just a two-person staff, KGIB relies upon an army of dedicated volunteers, committed community partners and supporters to keep the Marshes of Glynn clean and beautiful. Cox Conserves Heroes is part of Cox Enterprises’ national sustainability initiative, designed to recognize nonprofits, youth and adult volunteers making a positive impact on our environment. These Heroes are actively reducing or reusing carbon/energy and water or are minimizing waste sent to landfills or protecting and restoring natural habitats and species in line with our company’s own sustainability goals. Award categories include Youth, Adult and Nonprofit (KGIB’s category). Annually, the program awards a total of $150,000 from the James M. Cox Foundation to nine nonprofits selected by the program’s winners. The program includes three first-place grants, three second-place grants and three third-place grants. The winner of the nonprofit category receives the Jim Kennedy Conservation Award in honor of Mr. Kennedy, chairman emeritus of Cox Enterprises, chairman of the James M. Cox Foundation, and an environmentalist who started the Cox Conserves sustainability program in 2007.