COEUR D'ALENE, ID, October 27, 2026 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Rebekah Jane Garvin has been recognized for achievement in the bakery industry.

Marked by more than three decades of multidisciplinary experience, Ms. Garvin's most recent professional milestone began in 2022 when she created and opened The Beach Bum Bakery — located in Kellogg, Idaho, and named after her love of the state's vibrant lake and river beaches — an organic coffee-and-bakery shop that also operates as an eatery and has a mobile unit in Coeur d'Alene used for farmers markets. It is known for its organic New York Bagel sandwiches. Under her leadership, the bakery has rapidly become a destination bakery for travelers, and an iconic cornerstone of the community, earning a nomination for Best Bakery in the Silver Valley in 2026. Featured several times in the Coeur d'Alene Press and the Shoshone News-Press, she is recognized for her commitment to using clean, organic whole food ingredients and for prioritizing nutritious health-conscious offerings, which has resonated with customers throughout the region.

The Beach Bum Bakery was conceptualized as a cottage kitchen doing pop-ups, grew into a mobile unit operating from a commissary and then expanded to a physical location in Kellogg, Idaho, reflecting Ms. Garvin's entrepreneurial vision and adaptability. Her and her family built a commercial kitchen in the Kellogg location with the help of Go Fund Me donations. Passion for this endeavor came from her desire to give her special needs daughter a safe and challenging place to work and thrive. Through her business, she has not only been able to provide that for her daughter, but she has also been able to give back to the Silver Valley and Coeur d'Alene communities by not only regularly donating baskets of food to individuals and families in need, but by establishing one of the only organic eatery, bakery and coffee shops in the North Idaho region –– which health conscious customers appreciate –– as seen in the hundreds of comments and 5 star reviews on Google and other social media platforms.

Working with food goes back decades for Ms. Garvin, with various stints learning the diverse aspects of the restaurant industry from dishwasher to fry cook, food prep to cashier and event programming to decorating –– her favorite was as a waitress in pubs as far off as Colorado.

Later in life, during her off-grid life experience in the mountains of Idaho, she embraced cooking and baking in Dutch ovens, over open fires, on a wood stove and even in holes in the ground. There on her family's "Strawberry Mountain Farm" she hauled water for dishes, wood for the fire, grew and created gourmet food from her organic gardens, and tended hundreds of strawberry and raspberry plants. Loving to share – she produced and delivered weekly CSA (community supported agriculture) boxes to families. She learned valuable cooking and baking techniques during this off-grid time.

Ms. Garvin started catering when she hosted the local Coeur d'Alene Pilgrims Market employees for a farm-to-table experience and the annual Arizona's Prescott College's Equine-assisted therapy professionals training at a nearby equestrian facility. In addition she and her family coordinated, hosted and catered over 200 Biblical / Jewish Feast events – serving distinctively Mediterranean, Persian and Israeli menus – attracting dozens and sometimes hundreds of guests. One of her favorite volunteer opportunities was teaching the home economics class for a week at the local middle school in Spirit Lake, Idaho, where the entire student body learned how to make the Jewish bread, Challah.

Prior to her ownership of The Beach Bum Bakery, Ms. Garvin owned and operated A Chance Encounter Photography. Her professional photographic work during this time quickly gained broad recognition, placing her among the top photographers in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. Over the course of her years as a full-time professional photographer, she built a reputation for excellence in family, dance, and real estate photography – working with one of the largest home builders in CDA, Aspen Homes – but was best known for her journalistic approach to wedding photography. Her extensive professional involvement with youth and families led to many volunteer opportunities to be a photography guest lecturer at the local high schools and home school gatherings.

During the emergence of the internet, Ms. Garvin established herself as a YouTube influencer, sharing her insights on the Torah and repentance, baking and health, photography and creative pursuits for viewers around the world. Her expertise in branding and graphic design enhanced her online presence and helped her connect with a broad audience who enjoyed her unique blend of instruction, culinary arts, and visual storytelling.

Known for her local and international ministry endeavors, Ms. Garvin is a published author of over 32 books – including "The Mastery of Matzah Cookbook" and "Handbooks to the Spring and Fall Feasts." In 2020 her card game, "Go Feast," was featured on the Shabbat Night Live TV Show, hosted by Michael Rood Ministries –– as was her "Biblical Character Coloring Book." In 2007 her publishing company, Starlight Publishing, was launched when she coauthored the book "Notes from the Road" — a faith-based collection of journal entries written by travelers who have overcome significant life struggles and forged healthier paths.

Called into full-time ministry in 2012, she responded to the need for support for women turning back to YHVH to find the ancient Hebrew path so she created Teshuvah Ministries, Inc. with an accompanying YouTube Channel, Etsy store and Ladies of Teshuvah –– an international women's Hebrew faith ministry organization that featured daily support, in-person events and seminars, products for a Hebrew lifestyle, special training and an online university with courses. She established the Purim Fund part of her ministry to help women in need and raised money through Go Fund. Creating over 645 video teachings for her YouTube ministry, her channel has gained over 10,000 subscribers and nearly 1 million views. Ms. Garvin has personally counseled hundreds of women, mikvahed many into belief in Ye'shua, officiated Melchizedek weddings and led a huge West Coast Ministry Tour finding isolated people and families to encourage them and gather people together into a shared vision. Her ministry continues to the present.

Earlier in her varied life's work, Ms. Garvin founded Ink Time Design Inc., which she spearheaded for approximately nine years beginning in the early 1990s. The company specialized in branding, logo design and print materials for Christian summer camps and conference centers nationwide. At its peak, Ink Time served more than 600 camp clients and maintained an office on Sherman Avenue in downtown Coeur d'Alene. Following in the footsteps of her North Idaho College instructors, Laura Unthum and Steve Parker, Ms. Garvin happily gave back to the community by regularly accepting invitations to lecture in North Idaho College's Commercial Art Department throughout the life of Ink Time. Not only did Ms. Garvin's design firm produce a large monthly newspaper called "The Ink Times" that was mailed to camp and retreat centers across the country, but she traveled throughout the country to Christian Camping Professionals conventions annually where she set up creative iconic Ink Time booths, lectured on branding and camp programming, and secured clients for her business.

Overseeing a team that included graphic designers, photographers and web developers as the Internet era emerged, Ms. Garvin was dedicated to supporting single mothers by hiring them at her studio and creating an on-site nursery so they could care for their children while working. Additionally, she established a scholarship fund that enabled approximately 235 children to attend camp free of charge, reflecting her deep belief in the life-changing experiences of summer camp and her dedication to helping others through everything she does. Her professional background in graphic design, branding, social media development, videography and photography are skills that would prove invaluable in launching her bakery venture.

One of Ms. Garvin's main passions has been for summer camp and the power it has to change a person's life. As a girls counselor, speaker, interpreter for deaf campers and through programming, she spoke into many young people's lives. Well known for developing "Song Dramas" — tightly choreographed productions interpreting a song which aimed at assisting deaf campers in understanding a spiritual concept better — her creative blending of music, light, movement and ASL transformed the stage and became highly requested by local churches and summer camps.

Ms. Garvin spent a year in the mid 1990's volunteering as Assistant Youth Director and Taskforce Worker at the Upper Columbia Conference of SDA and at UCC in Spangle, Washington. As girls counselor and Vacation Bible School leader she accompanied a mission trip to the jungles of Malaysia in the early 1990's and has many stories to share.

Ms. Garvin began her diverse career with roles rooted in aquatics and education. With certifications in both Red Cross WSI and LGI she worked at Marshall and Memory pools in Vancouver, Washington, and then moved on to become the pool director at Cedar Falls Summer Camp in California in 1989. She then became waterfront director at Camp MiVoden in Hayden, Idaho in 1990 where she coordinated a staff of more than 28 members and oversaw waterfront and land safety drills and training exercises over four consecutive summers and volunteered for five continuing summers training new staff in her areas of expertise. With 16 real-life rescues under her belt, she also worked off and on as a swim coach and instructor for a decade, teaching hundreds of students including those with special needs including deaf and Down syndrome children.

Hailing from an equally accomplished academic background, Ms. Garvin earned a bachelor's degree from Boise State University, an associate degree from North Idaho College and completed many years of coursework at Walla Walla College. At Walla Walla, she majored in Secondary Education and English, minored in both art and physical education. Also gaining foundational professional experience during this time, she worked at Insty Prints in downtown Coeur d'Alene and learned a great deal about commercial art and printing processes. While attending North Idaho College, Ms. Garvin won the 1995 NIC spring speech contest placing first out of approximately 400 speech students who competed in the two-day tournament. Winning this tournament sparked Ms. Garvin's love of public speaking and has given her many lecturing opportunities in the academic and religious realms to this day.

While attending BSU she showcased her ability to serve others when she established and became President of the Hebrew Roots Club at BSU which hosted weekly and annual events for the students and through which she worked with University faculty to showcase the nation of Israel in the SUBs Global Showcase where approximately 20,000 students passed by each day. Displaying her presentation and filming abilities, Ms. Garvin created and starred in the Melchizedek Feast Diva Show, which aired on Boise Public TV in 2013, and earlier at NIC, when she created the Popcorn Forum logo and worked the cameras behind the scenes for the NIC PBS TV-Public Forum with Tony Stewart.

Reflecting on her storied journey to date, Ms. Garvin attributes her resilience and success to Yehovah Elohim, the God of Abraham-Isaac-and-Jacob, whose guidance and her deep faith in Him has shaped her approach to both personal and professional challenges. She believes that opportunities are gifts from Yehovah and that through faith they can be embraced without fear — a philosophy that has guided her through adversity including financial loss during the 2008 recession, when she and her family lost their home and her photography business but emerged four years later stronger after building a new view of life while successfully homesteading in a teepee in the snow belt of the Selkirk Mountains of North Idaho. She calls that time "a time of purification," where she and her family built an old-fashioned life, got close and learned how to repent according to the God of the Bible. Her devotion to the Truth became key to her survival on that mountain when Ms. Garvin and her husband translated and edited, via a single light bulb hovering over a makeshift table in a neighbor's one-horse-barn, one of the most important books she ever published, "Back to the Melchizedek Future" for Dr. David Perry, Thd., which has become an essential book for Scattered Israel selling in the thousands.

Beyond her professional accomplishments, Ms. Garvin is known for her deep commitment to local civic engagement and philanthropy. Ms. Garvin is known for leading the creation of the East Mullan Historic District Association in downtown CDA in 2007, alongside Joe and Lynn Morris, which helped save a historic neighborhood from demolition. Alongside her food basket donations through The Beach Bum Bakery, she has contributed to Silver Valley Fuller Center for Housing by welcoming new residents with food donations and supported Silverton of Cascade Health and Rehabilitation nursing home through annual raffles. Her generosity extends to church initiatives aimed at granting last wishes for children and hosting Friday evening Shabbat dinners, Hanukkah and Passover events at the bakery for the local Jewish community. "The Hadassah Ball," an old-fashioned dance social for North Idaho – named in honor of her daughter for whom the bakery was built – is hosted by the bakery annually.

On a personal level, Ms. Garvin leads a rich and fulfilling family life alongside her husband Isaac Garvin. Together for 28 years they are the proud parents of two daughters: Magdalene, who works at the bakery as the pastry chef, and Hadassah who also works at the bakery as the sous chef. Ms. Garvin considers raising Hadassah – who was born with special needs – to be a fully capable adult as her most significant achievement; she has been an unwavering advocate since learning of her daughter's Down syndrome condition early on, providing opportunities for growth through decades of ballet instruction, summer camp experiences and of course, employment within their family business –– for which the bakery was started. Other parents frequently seek her out for advice on how to support their own children with special needs.

Water skiing and figure skating are where Ms. Garvin has found much joy, and now going to the beach is her favorite recreational activity. She is making plans to live in Israel someday soon, of course by the beach.

Determined to further her impact in the coming years, Ms. Garvin plans to expand The Beach Bum Bakery by hiring additional staff members who share her passion for organic food and community service; such as implementing a scholarship-driven after-school baking camp for children. She is considering opening another location in Coeur d'Alene and is exploring franchising opportunities so more people can experience the difference made by clean ingredients and dedicated craftsmanship. In the near future, she plans to take a sabbatical to write her story and a coffee table cookbook.

From aquatics to photography, hospitality to advocacy, entrepreneurship and ministry to social media influencer to baking, Ms. Garvin lives by her "Learn.Live.Tell" motto and has demonstrated expertise, leadership and compassion across many fields and causes while remaining steadfastly committed to living in other-centered love — serving those in need both professionally and personally while creating organic goodness, beauty and shalom in her wake."

The Beach Bum Bakery: https://thebeachbumbakery.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thebeachbumbakery/
Support the bakery: https://gofund.me/f58d5711b
Teshuvah Ministries: https://teshuvahministries.com/
Etsy Store: https://www.etsy.com/shop/HappyHebrewGirl
Starlight Publishing: https://www.lulu.com/spotlight/starlight
Rebekah's Professional Online Portfolio: https://rebekah-qara-bat-yahovah.weebly.com/

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