Spotlight: John Porter

John relates that he is amazed at what KBB has done under the leadership of all of the organization’s executive directors.  He believes that we are truly the shining example here in the state of Florida of what a great affiliate should be.  He says that Larry Weber, as president of the state organization, Know Florida’s Beauty, is trying to replicate what we have done here in Brevard County.  Each affiliate will have different needs, but in the end we all have basic quality of life and sustainability issues that we must tackle.  KBB can have a major impact on livability in Florida, but there is still so much to do!

The vision John has for KBB involves our four-fold mission of beautification, education, litter control and recycling.  He would like to see KBB lead the charge in building a more sustainable Brevard County in the face of shrinking government budgets.  Necessity becomes the mother of invention, and KBB is being proactive in trying to maintain and increase our quality of life here in Brevard.  It has become important to maintain programs and figure out new ways to increase and maintain the beauty of our county with more cost effective methods.  One area of research is to aggressively pursue new ground cover ideas instead of grass that requires mowing and possible chemical treatments.  John says that we need to remind ourselves that we are only stewards of this land and we must as a species and a society leave this world as habitable as possible for people thousands of years from now.  We have a duty to not only ourselves, but to future generations.  John feels that we have a lot of work to do within our existing programs, and we are looking at ways to meet the financial challenges we’re all facing in Brevard County.  

And let’s not forget the life blood of KBB – our many talented, hard working volunteers.  Without them, we would not have nearly the impact we do.  John reports that it is incredible how we get over 60,000 volunteer efforts county wide in an entire year.  He believes that given the opportunity, people will help.  Also, having a dedicated, organized staff allows us to take advantage of opportunities for contract work, which in turn allows us to fund our staff.  Without our contracts, we could not afford our staff, and without our staff we would not be able to recruit all of our volunteers.  Each one of these three distinct groups is critical to our mission – staff, volunteers and customers/supporters.  There is a definite symbiotic relationship among the three, just as the relationship between humanity and the environment – if we take care of the environment, it will take care of us.

For more information, visit www.porterworldtrade.com.