Body, Mind & Spirit - Ranch & Coast

Passion For Giving
A teacher who connects kids with parents serving in Iraq, a movie star whose homemade salad dressing raises millions for charity, a highway patrol officer who helps to make the wish of a dying boy come true. The stories have touched countless people, but share a common vision: one person can make a difference. That’s the message of Passionaries: Turning Compassion into Action by Oceanside author Barbara Metzler. Metzler, a mother and entrepreneur, has always been fascinated by "social entrepreneurs and how the organizations they started significantly impact our world." She even coined the word, "passionary" to describe them. Her book profiles more than 35 such passionaries who have founded nonprofit organizations that have transformed lives and communities. "The stories go from an eight-year-old to an 89-year-old, ordinary people to famous people," says Metzler. "But any one person, if they take their passion and give it to others, can change our world." One of those stories is that of Chuck Colson, known as the "hatchet man" in the Nixon White House, who spent time in federal prison in the wake of the Watergate scandal. "He vowed never to set foot in a prison again," Metzler writes. "It was a promise he would break thousands of times." Haunted by the faces of his fellow inmates, Colson has devoted his life to a Prison Fellowship program credited with reducing recidivism from 70 percent to less than ten percent. "It comes from one man who’s given his life to make a difference for people in jail who are hopeless, who are the ones we want to forget about that are the throwaways of our world," says Metzler, "but look at the difference that he’s made in so many millions of lives." The book profiles three local passionaries including Rancho Santa Fe resident Joani Wafer, who co-founded Kids Korps USA with her sister Dawn Lehman. Wafer wanted to teach her own kids, who had so much, to care for those who had far less. The result was Kids Korps, a youth volunteer organization that engages children from 5 to 18 in community service, while teaching lessons in character and leadership. Kids Korps has grown from that first chapter in Rancho Santa Fe to thousands of kids in 70 chapters around the country. Also profiled is Betty Mohlenbroch of Del Mar, whose United Through Reading program has given bedtime stories new meaning, connecting children with parents who are serving in the military. The program makes it possible for troops deployed around the world to be videotaped reading books that are sent to their children. There’s also the story of Fern Nicholas, the Poway Mom who founded Moms in Touch International to pray for children and the challenges they face in school, from homework to bullies. What began with a mom and a prayer has spread to tens of thousands of moms around the world. Each profile ends with a postscript, called "ripples," recounting the effect the nonprofit has had on others. "When you do good, it ripples out and touches other lives," says Metzler. "Each of the stories is somebody who’s been touched, moved, or inspired and gone on and done something else or made a major impact in their own way." Metzler, recently named 2007 Woman of the Year from the 74th Assembly District because of her work, hopes the book will provide not just ripples but a wave of giving and connecting. The Passionaries Web site offers links to nonprofit organizations including brief profiles and contacts, along with information on how to get involved. In the end, Metzler is pursuing her own passion: using revenues to support nonprofits profiled in the book and to start a foundation to support passionaries "with big hearts, great vision, and smaller wallets." (www.passionaries.com) — Andrea Naversen, photo by Vincent Knakal