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CARLSBAD— Today, Assemblyman Martin Garrick honored Barbara Metzler as the Woman of the Year from the Seventy- Fourth Assembly District. "Barbara is an entrepreneur and is a role model for young women everywhere,” said Garrick. “Her latest endeavor is to share with America the inspirational stories behind 35 successful world – changing nonprofits." As an entrepreneur, she has started five companies. The best known, The Farmer’s Wife, became a multi-million dollar corporation. The Farmer’s Wife sold surplus fruit from her family’s large agricultural company. She started selling the fruit out of the back of her station wagon but it soon grew into a multi-million dollar corporation supplying fruit to everyone from farmer’s markets to large companies. In the mid-1980’s it was one of the country’s leading fruit by-product companies. In 2006, Barbara wrote Passionaries: Turning Compassion into Action, which profiles the leaders of thirty-five nonprofits, including: Paul Newman (The Hole in the Wall Gang), Millie Webb (MADD), Tom Harken (ProLiteracy Worldwide), Wendy Kopp (Teach For American), and Stan Curtis (USA Harvest). Each story profiles a leader of an organization that has significantly impacted millions of lives. Passionaries tells the true stories of extraordinary social entrepreneurs that turned their compassion into action--and proves how one person can change the world. "Barbara wrote Passionaries because she wanted to show each of us how these modern-day heroes are changing the world and how each of us can make a positive difference," continued Garrick. The book captures a movement unique to American culture—how private charities not the government can be the principal agents for social change. Passionaries demonstrates that Americans are the most generous people on the planet with both their money and time. According to the book, in 1990, charitable donations per year exceed over $100 billion. In 2004, Americans donated approximately $248.5 billion and sent more than $70 billion in aid to people in developing countries. In addition, an estimated 109 million or 57% of American adults volunteered 19.9 billion hours. Barbara is also active in her church and serves on several local and national nonprofits, including the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, Alpha USA and OBGYN Foundation of UCSF. The California Legislative Women’s Caucus sponsors the annual "Women of the Year" celebration at the State Capitol. Each woman is honored in a floor ceremony and presented with a resolution honoring her commitment to the community. |
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