HUMANITARIAN OF THE YEAR AWARD
Donna Porter
President/CEO, Coast Framing, Inc.
Forty years ago, Donna Porter was a high school senior who was caught smoking on campus. Her “punishment” was to participate in the newly created ride-along program with the Garden Grove Police Department. Ms. Porter sat in the patrol car mesmerized as she saw firsthand the many different roles that Officer Manny Ortega displayed as he handled a variety of radio calls. Ms. Porter was hooked and immediately enrolled in administration of justice courses at the local community college while dreaming of becoming a peace officer. While in college, Ms. Porter met and married a police officer and lived her dream by hearing the many law enforcement stories her husband experienced. It was then that she realized she did not possess that special quality of what it truly takes to be a law enforcement officer. Ms. Porter was determined that she would find another way to support the men and women who risk their lives protecting the public that they serve.
Ms. Porter, who has always been and to this day remains up for a challenge, decided to enter the construction industry and became a licensed General Contractor. Through hard work and a servant leadership model, she built from the ground up a construction framing company that is one of the largest in Southern California. Ms. Porter is recognized as the only female President/CEO in the male-dominated framing industry. Despite this unprecedented success, she remained true to her word and began a 25-year commitment to supporting the men and women who wear the badge.
In 1985, Ms. Porter and her beloved mother, Evelyn, found a parcel of land in Santa Ana that allowed the Association of Orange County Deputy Sheriffs (AOCDS) to begin construction of their headquarters. Ms. Porter and Evelyn were responsible from the ground up to the grand opening of the AOCDS building, which remains the headquarters for over 1,800 active AOCDS members. Twenty years later, Ms. Porter, along with Mr. Paul Musco and Mr. Dennis Assael, helped to bring awareness to all Orange County law enforcement agencies about the Project 999 Fund and helped to raise approximately $2 million. “999” is the police radio code for “officer needs help — emergency.” The fund provides emergency assistance for officers who are seriously injured in the line of duty and for families of officers who have been killed.
Ms. Porter’s support for law enforcement and public safety reaches far and wide. To date, she has financially assisted officers throughout Orange, Riverside and Los Angeles counties. Whether the generosity was outfitting jail facilities with gym equipment, sending police officers to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial in Washington, D.C., paying funeral costs for a medically retired deputy who committed suicide, sponsoring Peace Officers for Christ or annually donating thousands of dollars to peace officer memorial and widow and orphan funds, there is no request that has been turned down. Additionally, Ms. Porter’s framing company has built special interview rooms for sexually abused children resulting in a dramatic reduction of trauma. For the past 10 years, Ms. Porter has donated over 4,000 toys each Christmas season to police and fire departments, as well as law enforcement associations and unions. Ms. Porter personally assists in handing out these gifts to children who live in the inner city.
Ms. Porter’s next challenge for law enforcement is to ensure that every public safety agency in California has a peer counseling program in place. She believes this is the first step in addressing the real issue of an unacceptable high rate of suicide among the men and women who proudly wear the badge.
