Amber Jones - Incoming Chair - As I look back on 2014 some of my strongest and fondest memories come from times with my Surfrider family. One of my first volunteer opportunities with Surfrider was at the Board Making Event. This was a wonderful event where I met most of the Surfrider crew. I was welcomed with open arms by Matt, Phil, Sarah, Trey, and Jenny. In my conversations with them it was clear we all shared the same commonality of our love for the ocean. It was a wonderful feeling to meet other people whos heart and passions compelled them to the same Surfrider Foundation . I knew instantly after meeting everyone that this family was meant for me to join. I have since then met more of the current Surfrider crew and family, Sam, Jim, Sheridan, Gary, and Ewa. All who feel like family, sharing the same love and commonality for the sea.
I’ve now be given the wonderful opportunity to help lead our Surfrider Chapter into future years of protecting the ocean, waves, and beaches we love. I feel confident that our Santa Cruz family will produce many good things because of the amazing team we currently have.
Sarah has been the rock and glue of our Chapter holding all the pieces together and keeping our local chapter going. Her love and care for Surfrider couldn’t be more genuine and real. She has selflessly sacrificed so much of her time and finances over the years to protect our chapter and keep it alive. Her knowledge and experience in the environmental world is pretty extensive and I lost count as to how many advisory boards and committees she is on because there’s too many to keep track of! Without her dedication I do not know if our local chapter would be here today.
Matt’s sense of humor will always bring a smile to your face. He has been committed to Surfrider for years. His experience and history with Surfrider combined with his passion for the sea has made him a huge asset to any Surfrider Chapter. Matt is on it when it comes to keeping our website and facebook page updated with what our chapter is doing. Anytime I send something his way, it is instantly up and posted with a great caption. He is bringing back the public’s involvement through our chapter’s newsletter. His ideas and efforts create inspiration and motivation towards our chapter’s activity.
Phil is beyond awesome when it comes to responding to and managing incoming volunteers. His response time to interested volunteers is impeccable. This retains those that express interest to stay connected and interested. His dedication and organization of processing and managing incoming volunteers has strengthened our chapter tremendously over the past year. Feed his belly with some yummy pizza and his smile lights up any room.
Jim has also been a rock and glue for our Chapter. He has invested years of his time into ensuring our local chapter carries on. His dedication towards protecting our ocean, waves, and beaches is profound. Over the years he has formed alliances and provided our chapter with opportunities to join forces with other organizations. His efforts have kept our chapter grounded in the roots they were formed.
Jenny’s warm and inviting personality brings so much togetherness to our chapter. Her beautiful smile combined with her love for the sea initiates and motivates our team to enjoy time together in the ocean we love. Her meeting notes are always well prepared and presented to the team in a very timely manner. When you think of meeting notes you might think of boredom, have no fear, Jenny’s to the rescue.. She ensures the humorous comments are inputted as well.
Sam has been a BWTF Rockstar! His reliability, care, and dedication to our chapters BWTF couldn’t be more solid. He consistently ensures our sampling sites are taken, tested, and posted. Sam always follows through with what he says he’s going to. His passion and efforts for keeping our water clean couldn’t be more heartfelt and committed. He not only is running the BWTF but has also been helping with the education and outreach in schools. He has provided several educational presentations over the past year, all of which were well received by the students and teachers. And just when you think he couldn’t possibly have more time to do anything else for Surfrider, think again… Sam is also investing his time and energy into representing our chapter in the Cowell Beach working group to help address and resolve the water quality issue it presents.
Trey has a wonderful spirit that is filled with ocean love. When you talk to Trey about ocean related topics his eyes light up and the spark that is ignited captivates any audience. He is always more than willing to help our chapter any way he can. His ties and connections at the University and with other organizations provides our chapter the additional ongoing support it needs.
Sheridan has come into this chapter full force wanting to help. She will always greet you with a nice smile and hello. Her persistence, ideas, and dedication towards our chapter surviving finically is off the charts. She has great care in wanting make our chapter bigger and stronger for the long haul. She has a wonderful vision of forming relations with other business’ that she is currently acting upon to make it a reality.
Ewa came into this chapter around the same time as me. She is always positive, enthusiastic, and willing to help. Bring her to any event and she will ensure the night is filled with fun and good times. She is pretty much always down to surf anytime and anywhere. Her care and efforts with merchandising helps our local chapter raise money and awareness.
Gary’s involvement with Surfrider has been longstanding and extensive. He too is a big reason why our local chapter is still here today. I recently had the opportunity to table with Gary at one of our Surfrider tabling events. Through this event I got to know Gary and learn more about his involvement and the history of our local chapter. It was a touching conversation which displayed the extensive amount of love and care Gary has for Surfrider Foundation and for the ocean. Gary is definitely dedicated to our chapter succeeding and standing for indefinite years to come.
Audrey is one of our newest core volunteers. She has proven to be dependable, reliable, and always displays the upmost enthusiasm in everything she does for our chapter. She has been absolutely amazing keeping our twitter active and up to speed.
As you can see, our chapter is filled with so many dedicate and wonderful volunteers that are passionate about protecting the ocean they love. The strength of our team is going to provide our chapter with the means and resources we need to stand strong for years to come.
Cheers to 2015!