After six years of service to our community, Andrea Gardenhour, the Director of our Center for Youth Engagement, has decided to make a life-change that will take her and family away from Wise. As many of you know, the Gardenhours have a second home in Idaho which has been a refuge and place of great joy for Andrea and her family. After much reflection, Scott and Andrea have decided to make Idaho their full-time residence beginning this summer. While we are sad to see the Gardenhours leave Los Angeles, we are happy for the family and know that they will return frequently for visits and that Stephen Wise Temple will always be a home for them.
We are grateful to Andrea for all she has done for our community. Her passion for Jewish education, her love of Jewish community and tradition, her creativity, her devotion to Israel, and her tremendous commitment to Wise are deeply appreciated and will be sorely missed. Andrea helped create our Center for Youth Engagement, helped grow and enhance Camp Wise, partnered with Wise School in our after-school enrichment programming, and, more recently, helped launch our Women’s Rosh Chodesh Minyan.
We are in the process of searching for Andrea’s successor and will keep you updated on the progress of our search. With input from staff and lay-leadership, including, of course, members of our Center for Youth Engagement community, we are confident that we will attract a wonderful leader who will help us to build on Andrea’s successes.
We will have the opportunity to celebrate Andrea and her family on Friday, May 19th at a special Shabbat service.
I know that you will join me in offering our thanks to Andrea, Scott, Jake, and Zach as we celebrate their many contributions to our community and express our hopes that they will go from strength to strength (and return to visit us frequently!).
L’shalom,
Yoshi