Support Us

(Scroll down to see our list of supporters)

The Botanic Gardens at Kona Kai Resort was opened to the public on March 21, 2011 with the idea of encouraging our visitors to discover "Why Plants Matter." KKBG's mission - Education, Restoration and Transformation - sought to encourage visitors to overcome their "plant blindness" by discovering the under-appreciated nature and complexity of plants, as well as their importance to our lives and to our survival here on earth. We accomplished this through our unique TYUP™ "Transforming Your Understanding of Plants" Garden tour, our Upper Keys Fairchild Challenge [UKFC] in-school education program and our website. The Garden closed to the public in early 2016 when new property owners chose to no longer support the botanic garden. However, the virtual ethnobotanic garden created by the staff of The Botanic Gardens at Kona Kai lives on as whyplantsmatter.org, with the continuing goal of helping people understand Why Plants Matter.

There are many ways you can donate, but the easiest is also the most painless - as you won't feel it in your pocketbook!

You can easily donate each time you shop with Amazon by going to smile.amazon.com and selecting our parent 501c3 non-profit: The Artists Environmental Foundation of the Florida Keys, Inc., EIN #65-0887806, aka AEFFK, Inc.. Then, each time you type in smile.amazon.com before you shop, Amazon will donate 0.5% of your purchase value to The Botanic Gardens at Kona Kai. This costs you absolutely nothing, but provides us with enough funds to keep this website up for all to enjoy.

It might take you a while to get used to doing this, but whenever you think of AMAZON for your shopping needs, don't begin by typing "Ama.." into your browser, but instead type in "smile.amazon.com." Your browser will soon recognize where you want to go with the first few letters - so, just think "smile" and you will be supporting kbbg.org once you make that choice on Amazon.

Thanks for supporting us through Amazon!

Finally, Thanks to all those who have supported us....

Your donations help us continue our mission. We thank you in advance for your continued support.

Corporations and Organizations

(listed alphabetically)

Barefoot Marketing Group

Caribbean Watersports

Community Bank of Florida

Dolphin Research Center

Financial Strategies Group

First State Bank of the Florida Keys

Florida Keys Quilters

Historical Preservation Society of The Upper Keys

Keys Tennis

Rotary Club of Key Largo

Upper Keys Rotary Foundation

Individuals

Nancy & Michael Amorosi

Noreen Baris

Herbert & Gloria Berger

Eric Berk

John & Mary Breen

Irwin Cantor

Xavier Cortada

John Covington

Michelle Cullinan

Karen & Dan Decker

Keith & Sarajane Falkner

Jane Garvin

Steve & Stephanie Gupton

Joe & Veronica Harris

Pat Knowles

Diane Kordich

Artie & Kay Liles

Russ Magnaghi

Tom & Susan Martin

Evelyn McGlone

Christopher & Kathleen McMahon

Rene & Veronika Milar

Ann & Hollis Petersen

Cpt. Jeremy Pfaffendorf

Susan Poncelet

Marion & William Powers

Rep. Holly Raschein

Maggie Rouxel

Jim & Jean Skasick

Dirk & Francoise Verdoorn

Paul & Laura Wagner

Dr. Thomas M. Walsh II, D.D.S. PA

Tracey Weaver

Claire Weitz

and all those who contributed with their TYUP™ Tour