Carla and Jeff Meberg: A couple committed to the community in more ways than one
By DIANNE RUSSELL
Photos by Mary Hurlbut
The many roles that Carla and Jeff Meberg play in the Laguna community all involve a generosity of spirit, time and talent – and a significant amount of emotional connection. For their dedication to nonprofit work, they were the recipients of the 2022 Individual Arts Patron Award given by the Arts Alliance.
The Mebergs take their community endeavors very seriously, but they also have a fun side that shines through with glaring clarity – their charisma is contagious, and it’s easy to see why they are sought after to serve.
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Jeff and Carla Meberg
Carla introduced Jeff to the nonprofit world, and he seems to have embraced it as wholeheartedly as she has. He is on the board of both Pacific Marine Mammal Center and Glennwood Housing Foundation.
Born in Houston, Texas, Carla started out as an account executive for Cummings and Hester Advertising Agency, but quickly discovered her heart was in nonprofits when she became the executive director for Hear-Say, Inc, United Way Agency – also in Houston. She also served as the director of communications for Insight for Living, an international radio program and started her own business as a design consultant for book publishing and event planning.
“I knew I didn’t belong in Texas,” Carla said. “I love California, and I came here when I was 19. I went to California State, Fullerton and got a BA in communications with an emphasis in public relations.”
The Mebergs met when Carla’s best friend, who grew up knowing Jeff’s family, told Carla, “I’m going to set you up with someone.”
“When we were first married, we lived in Belmont Shores, then moved to San Clemente. Jeff’s job territory was from Los Angeles to San Diego, so we looked at the map and picked something in-between,” Carla said.
In 2007, she became a volunteer for Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA), for children in the care of the county.
Commitments
Carla has served on the LOCA Arts Education board for 10 years and has been president for eight years. “Our main accomplishments include building an incredible board of directors, growing our outreach by 50% and doubling our income,” she said.
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(L-R) Carla with Glennwood House CEO Faith Manners and Glennwood Associate Director Rachel Landers at the Glennwood Gala on October 29
For the past three years, she has served on the board of the Laguna Beach Art Museum.
First nonprofit
Although she studied art in college, Carla changed her major to communications when her creativity wasn’t encouraged by her instructors. However, in 2002, she began again to pursue art, which led to her first venture into Laguna into the arts and nonprofits.
“I went to Saddleback and studied printmaking,” Carla said. “The Festival of Arts hired me to work with a printmaker and in mixed media, and I met one of the ladies, Mada Leach, who was then president of LOCA. She said, ‘You need to be in LOCA.’ I have served as president for eight years. Then three years ago, I was asked to be on the board of LAM. I love that board. I feel like these are two of the best nonprofit boards. We all get along whether we’re losing or winning and are able to be gracious to each other. I like having all the points of view – we have a lot of different personalities. For example, at LAM, when we were hiring Julie Perrin-Lee. It was a wonderful experience, so fun to brainstorm and I think we made a fantastic decision.”
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Cakewalk at LOCA’s birthday bash
“You need opposing views; you have to have both. Everyone offers something, and it doesn’t have to be either/or, it can be both,” she continued. “We find a way to integrate everyone’s opinions.”
In addition to her role as FOA Art Educator in printmaking and mixed media, Carla also teaches bookmaking and printmaking for the senior art escapes program at Susi Q and teaching at the Youth Shelter. Currently, she teaches art classes every Thursday for the residents of Glennwood House, which is clearly a bright spot for both Mebergs.
Carla is devoted to the class, which usually involves 25-30 participants and Jeff is very emotional about the residents.
“Their artwork is great,” Carla said. “They don’t copy anything, they make their own art. Because they see things differently, it’s not going to be like anything else. Some residents are very verbal and trusting, others are non-verbal and hang back and watch. It’s not a crafting class, they learn skills and are very proud. We had a show at Susi Q and at Wells Fargo Bank. Their friends and families come and it’s a great opportunity for them to show their work.”
“Faith at Glennwood House has done an incredible job. She loves it and the staff loves what they’re doing,” said Carla. “You are in another realm when you enter that world and you walk away with so much joy. Before coming to Glennwood, many of them had only their parents’ friends as their friends, but at Glennwood, they get to pick their friends and live and learn. They call it home. When they are away, some residents say they want to go back home, meaning Glennwood.”
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(L-R) Marrie Stone, Jeff Rovner, Jeff and Carla Meberg at the Glennwood House Gala on October 29 at FOA
Surprised to know
Even though the Mebergs are well known in the community, there might be a few things that come as a surprise.
Carla was a U.S. Representative for the Rotary Club in a “Women in Business Exchange” with India in the area of communications and visited India in January and February 1990.
“We lived in peoples’ homes during that time. I contracted tuberculosis,” Carla said. “The doctors didn’t diagnose it for a year, and eventually I went to UCLA.”
She was one of the first patients in Orange County to have it.
Jeff said, “TB drains energy and she was fighting it for 10 to 15 years.”
“The first year I spent in bed,” she said. “I became a ‘partner’ in Jeff’s job. We are opposites when it comes to managing things. I’m very detailed oriented and balance a checkbook down to the penny. I would lay in bed and organize (and run the financial things) or make books or collages or paint. In the middle of the night, Jeff would sometimes roll over on a pair of scissors or some other art tool.”
Another surprise
With such a busy schedule with PMMC and Glennwood House, having a full-time job seems almost impossible. Although not ready to retire, Jeff is in transition from working to retiring as president of Nursery Products. They have the largest composting site in California.
His love of life and sense of humor can be traced back to his father. “My dad, who was a superintendent of schools for 32 years, got pancreatic cancer at 52. At the time, my mom dyed her hair, and he said, ‘when I die, quit dying your hair. People will think that the trauma of my death was so great that it turned your hair gray.’ She did stop dying it. What was great about my dad was that as he was dying, he said, ‘let’s turn this into something good.’ He got to meet Carla. He loved her. That has helped our relationship so much – she got to see how my family functioned and used comedy as a way to make things okay.”
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Jeff with some of his longtime friends from Glennwood House
Jeff inherited something else from his family as well – his cooking skills. His Norwegian grandmother was a baker in Seattle, Wash.
A zest for life
“Jeff is a great chef, and he learned from her,” Carla said.
That talent led him to be a sous chef for James Boyce at the Studio at the Montage for several months, but not in the way one might imagine.
“Jeff hosted a party for his largest client, the Gas Company, at the Studio,” Carla said. “They had just opened, and we were some of the first people to dine at the Studio at that time. The party was out of this world. The Studio said, ‘we’ll give you anything to get you to come back.’”
“So at the end of the party, I said I’d like to be a chef for the day,” Jeff said.
According to Jeff, when he showed up, the response wasn’t what he expected. Chef Boyce said, ‘**** that, I don’t do chef for a day.’”
“But I said, ‘I’m doing this,’ and I started showing up every Sunday after that – for eight months. Then there was a game he wanted to bet on, and I gave him the name of a bookie, and he let me be chef for a day. But it was like they were hazing me; they did so much stuff to me.”
Then it turned from bad to worse.
“We were at a fundraiser at the Four Seasons in San Diego with all the top chefs,” Jeff said. “I was down there with the sous chef, and we had a little food station representing the Montage, and I was wearing a chef outfit. They wanted chefs to donate things for the fundraiser, so I got up on stage and promised all kinds of stuff. When I got back, Boyce was really mad. I was devastated when I got home, but Carla was laughing. Then the next day, the fundraiser organizers contacted the Montage to thank them for sending their fun chef.”
Carla added, “Montage was so happy that they comped us rooms and looked out for us after that.”
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A lifetime of Samoyed dogs and convertibles
Spare time, what spare time?
In what little time the Mebergs have away from their nonprofits, they are renovating their home of seven years, and Carla works in her art studio in San Clemente. They spend time with their three Samoyed dogs – Owen, Ivan and Sophie – and their three cats – Max, a Bengal, Ragdoll Stewie and a Turkish Van named Ollie, who came from a rescue in Oklahoma.
“When we got married I told Jeff, I will always have Samoyed dogs and a convertible,” Carla said.
And he kept his promise to her – she’s always had Samoyed dogs and a convertible.
Then Jeff said something that all wives would love to hear, “Carla is naturally beautiful. She doesn’t wear her looks on her sleeve. You assume when someone is so pretty, that they are arrogant. She’s the opposite – so sweet and gorgeous, and so willing to help.”
Carla tried to counter his compliment, “When I was young, I was really skinny, and there were no hair products and my curly hair stuck out everywhere. That’s the self-image that stuck with me.” One of them mentioned Olive Oil from Popeye.
“Her character is phenomenal,” said Jeff. “I’m so proud that she’s my wife.”
When you love what you do, it brings joy and it shows – and that’s evident in both of the Mebergs.
