In our community there are those who “wake up, dress up, show up, follow up and never give up.” A slogan I heard from a local lawyer’s husband and began to implement.
“First they know you, then like you and ultimately trust you” came from a local influencer. Because when others trust you, they care about you, you matter, and they become passionate about your message.
Now a days, everything matters. Lives matter whether black, blue, brown, or even rainbow. Elections matter, education matters, too many developments popping up everywhere matters, autism matters, freedoms matter, being left or right matters, blue, red, or even green matters.
Before it was fashionable to matter, before it was socially acceptable to place “matter” before what you cared about, we cared. We cared about our families, our neighbors, our community, our state our nation and our planet. However, care has become so 20th century and matter is the current replacement for it.
So, what does the future look like? Caring gives way to mattering which opens us to passion. If we show our passion, we show our true colors our emotions and ultimately our vulnerabilities. Ironically, emotions cause us to well, become emotional. The bottom line is passion is contagious. It brings out the human in us, sometimes beneficial yet always real. We are taught to be authentic, real in this superficial existence at times. Realism is the catch phrase for going forward.
Yet in our community, caring still matters. There are those who volunteer with our kids and teens through Kiwanis of Clermont, Give a Day Foundation and Thrive of Clermont. There are those who give of their time to ensure our local businesses blossom through volunteering with Clermont Downtown Mainstreet with Wine Walks, First Friday Food Trucks, and special events.
There are those who throw themselves into ribbon cuttings, ground breakings, after hour events with the Chamber because a strong community begins and ends with showing up. Showing up is caring.
There are those who dress up for Greater Clermont Cancer Foundation Bras for a Cause because they care.
There are those who show up at town, city, county council meetings, who listen to the concerns of the community, who share and speak their allotted three to five minutes because they care.
There are those of us who are in, of, with and for the community. There are those who put ourselves at the hub of community, the overlapping vin diagram of government, the intersection of people, plants and how we coexist together.
Where you spend your time is where you spend your love and where you spend your love is where you spend your life. Time equals life.
I wake up, I dress up, I show up, I follow up and I never give up, may sound corny and cliché, yet what if is true? I am that person who does just that.
When people tell me I’m everywhere, I take it as a responsibility. Because when you care, others matter. Because when you are everywhere, you care about everyone. When it comes right down to it, I show up for people and this land.
As a farmer, I place myself at the spot where people and plants meet. We both need each other.
Banks Helfrich
Candidate for Florida House,
District 25
As a native Floridian, I love this state. As a resident of South Lake County, I love farming and teaching sustainability to this community. As a Candidate for State House, I love finding solutions to the issues of our time.