An organization that financially supports projects to physically improve and enhance the city of Washington has begun a new project to recognize other community members for their efforts to improve the quality of life in Washington.

The Washington, Iowa Betterment Foundation recently presented the “Bill Sitler Award for Bettering Washington” to members of the City of Washington administration for the municipal building project that includes the city hall offices, fire station, and police department. The recognition was named after the longtime community benefactor who originally organized the foundation. WIBF Board Member Lindsey Altenhofen says the foundation feels it’s important to recognize the efforts within the community to enhance the appearance of buildings, homes, and the landscape.

While the award program was delayed for some time due to the pandemic, WIBF hopes to present more awards in the coming months, which has also recently included the Jersey Mike’s restaurant across the street from city hall. Altenhofen says the board welcomes suggestions for future recipients, “We’d love to hear from the community too. You can always reach a board member or reach us on our Facebook page, message us there, we’d love some input from the community there as well because we don’t always see everything so if anybody sees something that they think is worthy of it we’re more than open to that suggestion.”

The mission of WIBF is to award monetary grants to non-profit organizations to assist their efforts of physical improvements or the enhancement of the quality of life in Washington. Applications for support can be obtained by any board member, or by contacting the organization here.