Our Daily Show Interview! Pride Inc. Pride Eye Awards Start Now!
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ALTON/GODFREY - Pride, Inc. will recognize nearly 7,000 homes in Alton and Godfrey in the coming months.
Pride, Inc., a beautification organization, sends out their Pride Eye Awards to honor homeowners that maintain their houses and yards. Pat and Carolyn MacAfee, who have been members of Pride, Inc. for years, shared that the organization will begin selecting homes for the awards over the next few weeks, with a goal to send out the awards by mid-September.
“The thing is, we’re about encouraging people,” Pat said. “It’s about encouragement, to encourage others, the neighbors, to keep theirs going. We like to showcase those that make an effort.”
As an organization, Pride, Inc. urges people to “love where you live” and take care of your yard and neighborhood. They also host biannual Citywide Litter Clean-Ups and spearhead beautification initiatives across the Riverbend region. The Pride Eye Awards are a longtime tradition in the region.
“When I first joined Pride in 1984, Dorothy Davidson was the one that got this program going,” Carolyn remembered. “It used to include Bethalto, Wood River, East Alton, Elsah. But over the years, they lost the volunteers. So now we’ve limited it to Godfrey and Alton, and it’s one of the requirements of our board members that they do an area.”
To select the Pride Eye Award winners, members of the Pride, Inc. board break into teams — known as “Pride Eye Patrols” — to canvass over 50 neighborhood “zones” in Alton and Godfrey. The Pride Eye Patrols choose to recognize homes that are well-maintained.
Pat and Carolyn said there are some “naysayers” who argue that everyone receives an award. Not only is this not true, they replied, but it also overlooks the goal of the program. Their aim is to encourage people to take care of their homes and celebrate the pride they feel for their community.
“The award is determined by the appearance from the street as we drive by the home. We don’t necessarily try to look in your backyards. We don’t get out and look at everything up close. But it’s the appearance from the street that we’re interested in,” Pat explained. “Keep the yard mowed, plant a few flowers. If your yard’s mowed neatly and you don’t have any flowers, you’re going to get one anyway because it’s about crediting people for the maintenance because you can see that they love where they live.”
If you feel like you or a neighbor have earned a Pride Eye Award, you can call the Pride, Inc. office at 618-467-2375. You can also nominate someone for the “Home of the Month” award, which Pride loves to share with community members who go above and beyond in their home and yard maintenance.
Pride also plans to host a garden tour next year to celebrate their 60th anniversary. Their autumn Citywide Litter Cleanup is scheduled for Oct. 4, 2025, and they will host a fundraiser at the Sportsmen’s Club in Godfrey on Nov. 8, 2025.
For more information about Pride, Inc., their work, or the Pride Eye Awards, visit their official website at PrideIncorporated.org.
