Friends of Jupiter Beach is grateful to Joan Ross for nearly 20 years of service
If you have volunteered at a Friends of Jupiter Beach monthly cleanup in the past 15 years, then you’ve had the pleasure of enjoying Joan Ross’s baked goods. A longtime leader and loyal supporter of Friends of Jupiter Beach, Joan is hanging up her whisk to enjoy retirement – a second time. But FJB has much more to thank Joan for than her baking. The dog lover joined FJB in 2002 and ascended to the board of directors in 2003. Joan steered the organization as board president from 2004 through 2012. She also served as ticketing chair for FJB’s Food & Wine Festival from 2010 to 2014.
Joan started baking for the beach cleanups in 2005. Local attorney Geoff Jones, board president from 2012 to 2015, still serves on the board and had this to say about Joan’s service. “I do not know anyone who worked harder for FJB than Joan Ross. I sometimes think my job with the monthly cleanups is burdensome; loading tables, equipment and clean up supplies into the car and transporting them to and from the monthly cleanup, all of which gets done in one morning. Joan’s preparation for the monthly breakfasts started days and sometimes weeks before the cleanups. She planned the menus, bought the ingredients, did all the baking, packed it all up, refrigerated it, transported it all, and then set up to feed typically 100-200 people. Then she would go back and do it all over again, all because of her love for baking and her commitment to FJB.”
Joan baked for every monthly cleanup until March 2020 when the pandemic put a temporary end to gatherings. With an average of eleven cleanups per year over a 15-year period, she baked for 165 beach cleanups which equates to 25,000 breakfasts for hungry volunteers.
“Joan’s baking for the cleanups always made me feel like I was being welcomed into her home,” said Mark Holbert, current board member. Mark has always been in awe of the amount of thought and care Joan used in preparing her baked goods for the volunteers every month. So much so that he helped her compile some of her favorite recipes into a cookbook so that she would always be a part of our community. A Taste of the Friends of Jupiter Beach is available on Amazon for those who will miss Joan’s baking. Funds raised from the sale of this book go to help support the mission of keeping Jupiter’s beaches clean and dog friendly.
“Friends of Jupiter Beach is grateful not only for Joan’s baking, but also her leadership and guidance over the last 19 years,” says Karen Gray, FJB’s Executive Director. “She will be missed but we wish her a relaxing retirement with her family and her pups. She’s earned it.”
