March 22, 2007 | Read Time: 1 minute
NEW BOOKS
Passionaries: Turning Compassion Into Action
by Barbara R. Metzler
Barbara R. Metzler, a board member at several nonprofit groups and founder of a fruit by-product company called the Farmer’s Wife, compiles stories of noted philanthropists, activists, and charity leaders, including Nancy Brinker, former president George H.W. Bush, Betty Ford, and Paul Newman — all “passionaries,” a word of Ms. Metzler’s creation.
She defines such a person as “one inspired passionately through vision and compassion to change the world for the better: visionary in action on a mission.”
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.”
Betty Ford, a former first lady who founded an addiction-rehabilitation center in California, recalls her own struggles with drugs and alcohol, her recovery, and her work bringing treatment for substance abuse out in the open.
Cathey Brown, who founded a counseling program for the children of alcoholics, says Ms. Ford was an inspiration.
“I began to think for the first time that if a former first lady could have this problem and be so public about it, that maybe I wasn’t so bad, maybe I could do something about my problem,” she writes.
The book also discusses founders and leaders of the Ronald McDonald House Charities, Mothers Against Drunk Driving, and the Make-a-Wish Foundation, among other groups.
Publisher: Templeton Foundation Press, 300 Conshohocken State Road, Suite 670, West Conshohocken, Pa. 19428; (484) 531-8380; fax (484) 531-8382; http://www.templetonpress.org; 233 pages; $19.95; ISBN 1-59947-105-1.
