"Nothing ever went to waste," she said. "There was also very little litter on the streets, or around the homes, and it really made an impression upon me how little people had there, and yet how proud they were of what they did have and how well they kept it up.

"Then when I got home [I was surprised] how much we have in this country and how many of us take little pride in our surroundings," she said. "We waste so much, and take pride in so little."

Her hatred of waste is a perfect fit for her position as executive director of Keep Durham Beautiful, a job she's held for five years.

While Keep Durham Beautiful is a public-private partnership, Pierce is a city employee and both the city and county pay her salary and the organization's other expenses. Her board also raises money to provide grants to local organizations, trees and flowers, and other supplies to improve the beauty of Durham.

Durham's group is one of more than 600 affiliates of Keep America Beautiful. Last fiscal year Keep Durham Beautiful participated in 294 events, helping to organize 1,762 volunteers who contributed 6,112 volunteer hours. For every dollar spent by the city and county, Pierce estimates her group gave back the equivalent of $2.59 to the community

Keep Durham Beautiful focuses on litter prevention, recycling and beautification.

The program lets groups "adopt" everything from streets to streams to bus stops. To help, it provides $500 quarterly grants, as well as gives teachers grants up to $250 to educate their students. Last fiscal year, Keep Durham Beautiful had a programming budget of $6,000 to provide these grants and other services. The money comes from the sponsorships at an annual golf event.

Pierce loves when someone calls with a problem she can help answer.

"It is really nice to feel like I can help people make changes in their community." She gets many phone calls and e-mails, asking her things such as how someone can stop getting phonebooks to why yogurt containers are not recyclable.

For current phonebooks she says you can put them in the normal recycling containers. To stop receiving them, you need to call the companies and ask them to stop delivering them to you.

For yogurt containers, Durham residents can now recyle them along with other new materials effective last month. Previously, only plastic bottles that had a mouth smaller than the bottom could be recycled due to costs.

The worst part of her job is "seeing people who just don't care about the community and don't have pride in their community," Pierce says. She can't believe that people still throw trash out of their cars. She knows if she had done that as a child, she would have gotten in serious trouble.

"My father was a gardener, and so no vegetable scraps ever went in the garbage; we had a huge compost bin," she said. "I was horrified when I went to kindergarten and saw my classmates throwing all their uneaten vegetables in the garbage. I remember worrying about that."

"I do this because at heart I'm an educator," she said. She wants people to learn the importance of recycling and how beautifying their home has a domino effect. Beautiful neighborhoods also deter crime and increase property value.

"I want to see Durham appreciated for the care with which citizens take care of their community," Pierce said.

Elizabeth Gill of the Walltown neighborhood has done two cleanups with Keep Durham Beautiful's help and was part of a group that received a grant to buy paint for railings around Ellerbe Creek. In addition, Pierce was able to get student volunteers from Duke to help with the painting.

Gill loves how Pierce is able to "link neighbors" with resources like these students as well as with Durham government agencies. Pierce arranged for the city to pick up the trash collected at one of Gill's cleanups.

"I'm incredibly impressed, especially since Keep Durham Beautiful is a one-woman operation," said Gill.

To apply for the grants or to learn more about the organization, visit www.keepdurhambeautiful.org