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Meet The Co-Chairs
This year University Synagogue celebrates our first 25 years as a congregations and looks forward to the next 25! As part of this milestone, we will soon embark on a capital campaign to honor our 25th anniversary and ensure our future. Mark Bregman and Marcy Garrett are our Co-Chairs, and they want to get to know each member and what their experiences have been like at US.
Mark and Marcy thought that a great way to begin that process would be for you to get to know them, and especially to know why they’ve chosen to undertake this campaign.
Marcy Garrett
As a new Board member, I am pleased to introduce myself to you and share my experience with University Synagogue. Dave and I, and our three beautiful sons, Jonathan, Zachary, and Benjamin moved to Irvine in 2007, and joined US one month after later.
Over the last 4 years US has educated our children. Our twins were in the very first Pre-school class. And last year, while our youngest son was in the Pre-K class, I volunteered as one of the Parent Committee Presidents. I think we are the first family to have three University Synagogue Pre-school graduates! This year our twins began the Adventures in Jewish Education (AJE) Camp. It is a thrilling way for our children to learn about Judaism in a gorgeous camp setting. Once again, US proves itself to be a leader in Jewish education providing this innovative experience. The only complaint my sons have is that AJE is only once a month- they love it!
US welcomed my family with kindness and acceptance. It is responsible for introducing us to wonderful families who continue to share in and enrich our lives. I am honored to be Co-Chairing the Capital Campaign with Mark Bregman, who is incredibly dedicated and so knowledgeable in all things US. I share his enthusiasm for this Campaign and for the Synagogue. As a community, let’s make our synagogue all we can imagine and more during this 25th celebratory year!
Mark Bregman
Mark Bregman: I have been a member at University Synagogue for 17 years, joining for two reasons: first to find a place where my then teenage daughter could have a quality post B’nai Mitzvah experience – this led to her confirmation – and she and her family are members now too. I also wanted a place to explore my own Jewish identity, which I didn’t feel “fit” anywhere else. US immediately felt like home and community to me. I was fortunate to meet my delightful wife Susan here, and how lucky we both are to have found soul mates with a similar Jewish ideology.
I’ve served in many volunteer roles here, and have recently returned to the board. I’m currently the VP of Ways & Means, and I am so pleased to be Co-Chairing the Capital Campaign with Marcy, who is extremely creative, organized and driven to achieve.
I am a passionate Reconstructionist, and US is the only congregation to which I could belong. I’ve enjoyed so many positive Jewish experiences here – too many to count to be sure, but they have included every life cycle event from weddings to memorials to baby namings, and each has warmed my heart. While the warmth and nurturing environment have been very valuable, my brain hasn’t had to sleep. The intellectual stimulation at services, Kallot, and many other events is unparalleled in OC. Last but not least, this is truly a community. I’ve made lifelong friends here who share my ideals and understand me all the better because we share a heritage and a way of being together.
It is critically important to me to enable others to have the incredible experience I’ve had here, and the capital campaign will enable us to sustain and enhance what we are and what we have. I look forward to an exciting year of celebration with you. A celebration of all we have been for 25 years, AND a celebration of all we may yet become!
