Temple Israel of New Rochelle Anniversary Gala 2018 Founder’s Award Honoree Beverly Hoffmann Beverly Hoffmann and her husband, Howard, made their way to Temple Israel in 1980, when they joined the Young Couples’ Club. It didn’t take long for Beverly to become entrenched in Temple life. Just as her children, Jennifer and Dan, attended the Temple’s Early Childhood Program and Religious School, Beverly took adult Hebrew classes, enabling her to participate more fully at services. Her involvement in Temple Israel is extensive and makes her well deserving of this year’s Founder’s Award. Among her contributions, Beverly has served in 13 different committees/capacities at Temple Israel, including: the Board of Trustees, Early Childhood Program, Temple Israel Cares, Nominating Committee, mentor to new congregants, Rabbinic Search Committee (bringing us Rabbi Weiner!), Marketing Committee, Confirmation Class invitations, College Committee, Club 56 Program Director, Sukkah decorating, the Religious School’s first Co-“Pizza Mom,” and the initiator of the “Singing Congregation” effort with Cantor Katzew. Now an honorary Trustee of the Temple, Beverly’s full, nine-year term of active service on the Temple’s Board was the period during which she took on the lay leadership role of overseeing our Early Childhood Program. When initially asked to use her business skills to shore up the School’s expenses, she determined that full-day programming, designed to fulfill the needs of today’s full-time working families, would resolve the dual problems of declining school enrollment and Temple membership. Beverly was part of a team of four who then founded the Kehillah School, which opened its doors in September 2011. Her involvement in the program continued as Beverly served first as chairperson of the Kehillah School and then, in 2016 and 2017, as co-chair of the Kehillah Executive Board and Kehillah Council. Beverly stated, “I am proud of the market niche that was filled by the Kehillah School to the envy and admiration of the nation’s Reform congregations.” Her role in developing the intricate pricing strategies which enabled us to obtain a competitive position among premier or value-added programs has been key to funding the operational needs of the Temple. In addition to general management and working with Bright Horizons, Beverly has played a major role in marketing and communications. “Insane as it seems, I wrote roughly 350 eblasts to promote the program and inform congregants about it,” she said. Her hard work paid off, as the Kehillah School continues to thrive. Beverly has also done significant volunteering for the New Rochelle public schools. She attended the University of Pennsylvania and the Wharton Graduate Division and, during her early days in advertising and product management, won an Effie Award for Advertising Effectiveness. “It seems I neglected to attend the class in business school where they instructed us to earn a living for our work!” she said. And Temple Israel has been rewarded with Beverly’s commitment to volunteering.
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