Jonathan Yob on Blogger: Florida Aquarium Provides At-Risk Teens Chance to Swim with Sharks

Tuesday, November 3, 2020

Florida Aquarium Provides At-Risk Teens Chance to Swim with Sharks

Known for his philanthropic commitment, as well as his entrepreneurial track record, Jonathan “Jon” Yob leads the Yob Family Foundation and partners with a range of Tampa area nonprofits. One Tampa initiative that Jonathan Yob spearheaded focused on working with The Florida Aquarium to create its Journey to Madagascar exhibit in 2014 that highlights biodiversity in one of the planet’s threatened areas of unique wildlife.

The Florida Aquarium maintains a strong community focus and was recently in the news for the donor-sponsored opportunity it has extended to at-risk teenagers to experience swimming with sharks. The dozen participants in this experience reside at Metropolitan Ministries’ residential program. Wearing wetsuits and flippers, the teens had the chance to snorkel amidst a vibrant underwater ecosystem that includes more than 1,000 fish. The large tank is home to barracudas, a sea turtle, stingrays, and even a sand tiger shark.

Activities at The Florida Aquarium such as swimming with sharks help support vital programs like the Center for Conservation at Apollo Beach. This facility undertakes sea turtle rehabilitation and enables groundbreaking scientific research in areas such as coral restoration.

Jonathan Yob

A well-regarded Florida-based philanthropist, Jonathan Yob is the founder and president of the Yob Family Foundation (YFF), which is a premier sponsor of Zoo Tampa. In ongoing support of the Tampa landmark formerly known as Lowry Park Zoo, Jonathan Yob and his foundation facilitated the interactive koala experience after returning from Australia and witnessing these amazing marsupials. After extensive research and planning assuring the highest standard of care for the koalas, the exhibit opened in early 2019. At the opening, Jon Yob stated, "ZooTampa has been enjoyed by generations of visitors. They truly live their mission to rescue, rehabilitate, and care for hundreds of thousands of ailing animals. Without their care, most of these creatures would experience persistent health problems, or perish."
The Yob Family Foundation has a lengthy history of supporting ZooTampa, including helping to launch the annual ZooBrews fundraising event. The foundation funds and actively participates in numerous other philanthropic causes, working with Tampa General Hospital, Junior Achievement, Metropolitan Ministries, the Crisis Center of Tampa Bay, and A Kid's Place, just to name a few. The foundation emphasizes leveraging its resources with the resources of other like-minded individuals and organizations to maximize the success of each community project. Yob has been a sponsor and chair of the palliative care unit at TGH since 2012 and the following year, founded an annual Christmas event benefiting homeless families in partnership with Metropolitan Ministries and the Straz Performing Arts Center. Through the YFF, he sponsored the Florida Aquarium's highly successful "Journey to Madagascar" exhibit and the MacDill Air Force Base Marriage Retreat Project.
Outside of leveraging the foundation to support these, and many other organizations and initiatives, he develops marketing materials that target donors and identifies industry trends via social-media and online sources. The YFF has enacted numerous matching gift donations when necessary to reach fundraising targets.