St. Johns Riverkeeper (SJRK) celebrates its annual Volunteer Award winners each year at our Holiday Mingle event in December. We would like to introduce our honorees and commend their contributions to SJRK and our river!
Volunteer of the Year: Pete Miller
Pete is what you might call a ‘professional volunteer.’ Aside from St. Johns Riverkeeper, he gives his time and talents to many causes in the community. Despite his busy schedule, he always has time to help us. He’s racked up more than 30 hours over the course of 2024, helping with 11 different activities. From tabling events, to nature walks, to cleanups, and more, Pete can always be relied upon to go above and beyond expectations. He is the best example of how AWESOME our volunteers are!
Educator of the Year: Brooks Andrews
Brooks Andrews has volunteered regularly with SJRK’s education department for nearly two years. He is one of our most frequent volunteers for our RiverX trips, which are held on the St. Johns River Taxi for 4th-6th graders. His favorite station is salinity, where he teaches students how to test the amount of salt in five different samples of St. Johns River water.
Brooks has demonstrated immense care and knowledge for diverse student audiences. He is always enthusiastic and engaging with the students in his groups, and never fails to make them smile! He takes the time to make sure students understand the lesson and cares about each student as an individual. We are so thankful to know and work with him!
Business Partner of the Year: Salon 2000
Each year during Earth Month (April), Aveda Salons pick an environmentally-focused nonprofit organization to fundraise for “to love, celebrate and raise funds to protect the earth and its peoples.” Salon 2000 has been going above and beyond for SJRK during this campaign for many years!
Lorraine, Meghann and the team at Salon 2000 have participated in the Aveda Earth Month Campaign for 12 years and in that time have raised over $60,000 to help protect the St. Johns River.
Being close to both Doctor’s Lake and the river, the staff and clients at Salon 2000 have seen firsthand the changes in the river and want to do all they can to help. While many Aveda Salons have chosen to raise money for international organizations, Salon 2000 has committed to focusing on the water in their backyard.
During Earth Month every year, Salon 2000 invites SJRK in to educate their staff about the important action being taken for the river by our organization. They then use this information to talk with each of their clients about what they can do to help.
Advocate of the Year: Logan Cross
J. Logan Cross is chair of the Sierra Club of Northeast Florida and is leading the Renew Jacksonville Campaign to get Jacksonville to transition to 100% renewable energy before 2050. Renew Jacksonville has provided a forum for organizations including St. Johns Riverkeeper to work collaboratively to ensure that we are addressing the root causes of climate change locally.
Logan is also a Steering Committee Member of the Jacksonville Climate Coalition that is actively collaborating with the community to implement ambitious measures aimed at curbing emissions that contribute to heat retention and safeguarding our city against the dangers of rising sea levels and heatwaves.
He has served on the City of Jacksonville’s Special Committee on Resiliency and the JEA Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) Stakeholder Advisory Committee where I personally experienced his commitment to facts, details and to standing up for what is right.
In 2023, Logan won The Sierra Club Volunteer Achievement Award that honors Sierra Club volunteers for a single act of importance to the environment for his leadership with Renew Jacksonville and received a Jacksonville City Mayor’s Commendation from Mayor Donna Deegan for his good work on behalf of the environment.
Logan is courageous, gracious with his knowledge, tenacious and a passionate voice for Northeast Florida’s environment.
For all of these reasons, we honor J. Logan Cross as St. Johns Riverkeeper’s 2024 Advocate of the Year Award.
Special thanks to Will Dickey for donating the beautiful artwork for our awards, and to Ryan Buckley for adding the finishing touch with framing!
Volunteer Superlatives
We have so many special volunteers, and we just had to recognize a few extra folks this year with some fun superlatives:
“Solo Steward” Award
For the volunteer who’s the Lone Ranger of Litter – they spent the most hours at independent cleanups.
Liesl Savage – 28 hours, 14 contributions
“Riverview Warrior” Award
Special recognition for a volunteer going above and beyond for a specific site.
Dave Ramsey – 6 site visits + countless unlogged hours
“Swiss Army Volunteer” Award
They’re prepared for anything, anywhere!
Katie Bero
“Rookie of the Year” Award
For first-time contributions, recruitment, and enthusiasm.
Sarah Marberry
“Aren’t you getting tired?” Single Cleanup Tire Record
VyStar – 42 tires, Bert Maxwell Boat Ramp
Thank You!
We are grateful for volunteers who clean up our waterways, help our events run smoothly, tell others about our mission, educate people of all ages about the river and more. If you have ever volunteered with St. Johns Riverkeeper in any capacity, we thank you for being a park of the SJRK family!
We hope you will join us in 2025 as we celebrate our 25th anniversary as a Waterkeeper Alliance organization throughout the year. Make sure you are on our email list so you can stay in the loop during this monumental milestone.