Jayne G. Evans is an active member of the community, volunteering with several key organizations.
Tell me a little about yourself.
My Ponte Vedra Beach story, as a fourth-generation Jacksonville native, begins with a Valentine’s Day dance at the Ponte Vedra Club in 1946, where my parents met. They married that July. After their wedding, my parents lived across the street from the beach on Amelia Island. My older brother had four more years of beach time than I did because, 18 months after I was born, Admiral Rickover recruited my dad to work at the Shippingport Atomic Power Station in Pennsylvania, the world’s first commercial pressurized water reactor used for generating electricity. Adm. Rickover then recruited my dad again to work on nuclear submarines, and we moved to Napa, California.
No matter where we lived, we spent every summer until I was 19 in San Marco with my mom’s family. We enjoyed countless magical summer days at the Ponte Vedra Club, where I learned to swim, chase waves and spot shrimp boats, dolphins and sharks offshore. When not at the beach, I spent time with my cousins, and we explored all the popular spots — from St. Augustine to Silver Springs — and, of course, my favorite, Marineland.
The reason I thought moving to the Midwest after a year into my first post-college job was a good idea escapes me now, but I believed I’d eventually return to California. After spending four years in Cincinnati, where I felt landlocked, I chose the bright lights of New York City over returning to the Bay Area. I had spent six months there during a self-directed study break between my junior and senior years of college. It turned out to be an excellent choice in many ways.
In New York City, I worked for two of the most respected ad agencies in the world, BBDO and Young & Rubicam (Y&R). The financial rewards for my clients and the agencies were substantial, along with the bonus of my teams winning new business and creative awards. One of my most cherished achievements was convincing my Kraft client to test the idea of selling Crystal Light in single-serve paper sticks. If you’ve ever bought a water enhancer in a stick, liquid drop, or pill, you can think of me. When I retired from the agency world as a managing partner, I was leading one of the largest global clients for Y&R and its subsidiaries.
I want to ask about your work with the Betty Griffin Center. What is your role there, and what drew you to get involved? How long have you been active there?
In St. Johns County, the Betty Griffin Center is a critical nonprofit organization providing unwavering support for survivors of domestic and sexual violence as they navigate their traumas, reclaim their lives and live on their terms. The organization is celebrating its 35th anniversary. It operates a 54-bed emergency shelter, six transitional apartments, and provides outreach services, training and education, including a batterers accountability program and in-school programs about healthy relationships.
The statistics on intimate partner violence are staggering; one in four women and one in nine men have experienced physical or sexual violence by a partner at some point in their lives. The effect on children living in homes with an abuser can have lifelong harmful consequences.
I was the marketing director at the Nonprofit Center of Northeast Florida when Joyce Maher, the former executive director of the Betty Griffin Center, asked for my help with their rebranding effort around 2014 or 2015. I am a survivor and was delighted to assist. Through that project, I met many team members, was impressed and expressed interest in taking a tour. Joyce asked me to submit my application for the board, and I joined in July 2019.
It was an honor to serve six years on the board, including two as chair. My term ended on June 30 this year, and I am now an active volunteer.
I am incredibly proud of everything Betty Griffin Center achieves in the county. Recognizing the popularity of St. Johns County, the board developed a Seven-Year Plan in 2023 and a Three-Year Plan that is updated every year to ensure we continue focusing on meeting the needs of the rapidly increasing number of survivors who require, or will require, our help.
Tell me about your involvement with the Palm Valley Community Association and the Citizens Traffic Task Force.
I’ve been volunteering since I was 6, knocking on doors for Muscular Dystrophy. In New York, I helped start two national organizations that have been successful since 2001 and 2007.
My husband, Anthony Brescia, and our youngest daughter, Kate, moved to Ponte Vedra Beach in August 2007. Anthony retired before me and always wanted to live in a Florida golf course community near the beach. When one of my Jacksonville aunts was celebrating her 80th birthday, I suggested we attend and stay at the Ponte Vedra Inn. We did, and a couple of years later, we were happily living in The Plantation at Ponte Vedra Beach, and Kate was a seventh-grader at Episcopal School of Jacksonville.
At orientation day for new students at Episcopal, I looked around the auditorium, and it suddenly hit me — I didn’t know a single person. One day, I thought my daughter would be going to parties and driving with other kids that I had not known since they were 2 years old. It was a scary moment, so I committed myself to being a volunteer with the Parents’ Association, eventually serving two years as president and as a lacrosse team mom.
I decided that the best way to meet my new Plantation neighbors was to volunteer, so I joined the marketing committee. I’ve served on the board, including a two-year term as president, and I continue to volunteer. Through my work in Plantation, I became involved with the Palm Valley Community Association (PVCA) and the Citizens Traffic Task Force (CTTF). I’ve been a member of both boards for about 10 years. Both organizations have made significant contributions to improving the quality of life for the greater Ponte Vedra Beach community.
The PVCA hosts the annual Boat Parade, community meetings where locals learn more about their neighborhood and a candidate’s forum. We also persuaded St. Johns County to extend the Palm Valley Road sidewalk from Landrum to The Tour. Phase one is finished, and phase two is expected to be completed early next year. The CTTF has collaborated with FDOT, the North Florida Transportation Organization and the county to enhance road safety, investing over $8 million in intersection improvements since 2018, with more projects in the design stage.
What do you like most about living here?
I guess you can go home again. I never thought I’d move to Ponte Vedra Beach, and now I can’t imagine living anywhere else; it’s as perfect as it can be.
