(April 10, 2025) PA State Representative John Lawrence, District 13, honored David Shirey with the Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful Community Pride Award for his exceptional dedication to community improvement in Chester County.

For the past eight years, Shirey has organized a litter cleanup day at 80 locations in southern Chester County, working closely with local volunteers to clean up to 56 miles of roads and collect over 250 bags of trash. Each year, the event continues to grow. Shirey coordinates over 100 volunteers, assigning groups to specific areas and providing detailed instructions on the tasks at hand. He also actively engages the community, including athletes and coaches from Avon Grove High School, who now routinely participate in the clean-ups.

Shirey has led efforts to remove litter and trash from state and local roads like the US Route 1 Bypass and Springlawn Road Trail. Recently, Shirey and a dedicated group of volunteers collected 101 bags of trash along Route 1 between Route 82 and Toughkenamon, PA.

David Shirey was also recently recognized with the Volunteer of the Year Award from Keep Chester County Beautiful.

“Dave deserves recognition for taking action to meet a real community need,” said Representative Lawrence. “Through his leadership, dozens of volunteers have come together to make a real and lasting impact on our area. I’m grateful for his willingness to serve and lead others.”

Shirey recalls how the litter cleanup day initiative began. “This all started about 12 years ago with me taking a shopping bag for a little walk down from my house. Then I began thinking of how to get help and spread the word. A friend is a sign maker, so he set me up, and about six of us decided to do more. Then we got more signs and more people kept calling. Then four signs and now we have eight spread around in key locations. Volunteers have come back year after year and now I have two key figures that help me manage these events. But we never stop trying to get better and cover more of Chester County. I have even considered calling together township managers around the area to help educate them and share ideas. One last word, education. We have to start with the kids, and you know what, they all need community service hours.”

“David Shirey’s unwavering dedication to keeping Chester County clean and beautiful is truly inspiring. His efforts, supported by Representative John Lawrence’s nomination, exemplify the spirit of community pride and environmental stewardship that Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful stands for,” said Shannon Reiter, Executive Director, Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful.

The Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful Community Pride Award recognizes outstanding environmental stewardship by an individual, school, community organization or civic group that makes an outstanding commitment to litter control, recycling, or general environmental stewardship. The community Pride Award is available to elected officials to recognize those in the community working to change behaviors at the local level. Elected officials interested in nominating a constituent for a Community Pride Award should visit keeppabeautiful.org and choose grants and awards, then awards, then Community Pride Award for more information. The award is open on a rolling basis.

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About Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful
Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful’s vision is a clean and beautiful Pennsylvania. Since 1990, Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful has worked with hundreds of thousands of volunteers across the state to pick up nearly 162 million pounds of trash from Pennsylvania’s roadways, waterways, greenways, vacant lots, forestlands and other community spaces. Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful’s core programming focuses on litter and illegal dump prevention, cleanup, community greening, and proper waste handling and sustainable practices. Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful works with many partnering organizations on the state and grassroots level to accomplish our goal of a clean and beautiful Pennsylvania. Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful is the state affiliate of Keep America Beautiful, Inc., the nation’s largest volunteer-based community action and education organization. To learn more about Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful, visit www.keeppabeautiful.org.

Download the press release.