July 2, 2009 | Read Time: 2 minutes
NEW BOOKS
The Gift of Passionaries
by Barbara R. Metzler
Barbara R. Metzler, founder of a fruit by-product company called the Farmer’s Wife, compiles stories of noted philanthropists, activists, and charity leaders, including Lance Armstrong and Tiger Woods — all “passionaries,” a word of Ms. Metzler’s creation. Ms. Metzler previously compiled Passionaries: Turning Compassion Into Action in 2007 and this book is the second installment in the series.
She defines “passionaries” as people who “see a social problem and envision a solution.”
The book describes how individuals grew interested in charity work, where they began, and what has come of their efforts. Several chapters include a section called “Ripples,” an essay about someone who has been personally influenced by the work of a “passionary.”
John van Hengel took a vow of poverty after a youth spent as a “first-rate beach bum.” In 1967, he was introduced to a woman with 10 children and a husband in prison; the woman told him that she found food for her family by going into refuse bins behind a grocery store. When Mr. van Hengel found that grocery managers had plenty of food they couldn’t sell, the idea for St. Mary’s Food Bank, and eventually Feeding America (formerly America’s Second Harvest), was born.
Mr. van Hengel in turn inspired a military veteran, Mike Doody, to expand programs at the North County Food Bank, in San Marcos, Calif., after the two met at a Feeding America conference in 2003. The organization now distributes more than 1.2 million pounds of food a year. Mr. Doody says of Mr. van Hengel, “This simple man decided to do something helpful for others and it multiplied into the amazing network of food banks throughout America. Interestingly, each one was uniquely different in how they provide emergency food for the needy.”
The book also discusses founders and leaders of Gifts in Kind International, Points of Light and the HandsOn Network, and the Nature Conservancy, in addition to other organizations.
Publisher: Passionaries Press, Carlsbad Village Drive, Suite 108A, Number 425, Carlsbad, Calif. 92008; fax (760) 757-1855; http://www.passionaries.org/index.html; 225 pages; $19.95; ISBN 978-0-9821776-0-0.
