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Community Corner

You Don't Have to Be Rich to be a Philanthropist

Inspired by Oprah, Krista Gawronski founded Fabulous Women five years ago to raise money for local families in a casual, fun environment

founder, , has been mentioned in Patch a few times, but have you ever heard the story behind the group of women who socialize, fund raise, and support meaningful community causes? 

As Gawronski embarks on turning her grassroots organization into an official nonprofit in the next several months, she is also getting ready to celebrate her fifth anniversary of leading a very special group of Petalumans this fall with a Oct. 22 celebration at Sova Gardens in Sebastopol.

My recent visit with Gawronski left me with a bounce in my step and helped me understand who would be crazy enough to put her personal phone number all over her website. After all, when Gawronski tells you why she does what she does, you sort of want to do it too. 

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The youngest of six children in a San Francisco Sunset District Latin/Irish Catholic family, Gawronski was never the typical spoiled baby. 

“Having a big family means making sacrifices. It means being part of an effort,” she said explaining how family now defines her life with her husband Paul and their young sons, Frank and Vince.

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“I was the youngest by ten years, so I grew up really admiring my mother and my sisters. Today, my heroes are my two mothers; my mom Gail Acevedo and my mother-in-law Cathy Gawronski and my sisters, Sylvia Solomon and Sandy Fetter,” she said. “And Oprah Winfrey, of course.”

Indeed, one sister planted the seeds of the entire Fabulous Women project twelve years ago when she invited Gawronski to hear Oprah Winfrey speak on the power of personal destinies. Oprah encouraged audience members to discover what their true gifts were.

“I’m sitting there thinking, well, of course I want to be a good wife and mother, a good friend. That’s the level I was thinking at. But there’s something about Oprah, she really gets you to go deep inside your heart,” she said.

In the days that followed hearing Winfrey speak Gawronski was unable to tap into her particular path. She decided to pray.

“I was sure a deeper calling was lurking,” she said with a broad smile.

Life rolled on and the habits and responsibilities of running a household clicked into motion. Gawronski got busy with the business she and her husband own, . She had kids to drive to school and family projects and grocery shopping, and through it all she kept watching, looking and waiting for her particular opportunity to make a difference.

“When I heard that a mom at my son’s school lost her husband, I knew. I knew that was the beginning of everything for me in terms of making a difference,” she recalled.

But she didn’t want a fundraising effort to be too formal or too big or too structured. She invited other moms to her home, served wine, some finger food and invited them to help raise a few bucks for one of their own. She figured if they each went out with a couple of friends, had a glass of wine, something to eat, they’d drop $30, $40 bucks anyway. Why not drop that in an empty paint can for a good cause?

“All I said was, on any given day, any one of us could lose our husbands. It could happen. And all this lady needed to do was to get back to her family in England with her five-year-old and heal,” she said.

In quick order, that first fundraiser accomplished its goal and it’s been an oft-repeated model of informal giving gatherings that allows everyone involved an opportunity to help a real person in their own hometown.

She called the group what it is: The Fabulous Women.

“The causes were a lot more personal in the beginning. Each hostess picked the cause and ten or twelve people would be there,” said Chantal Smith, 37, who joined the group at the third gathering. "Now because it's grown so much, we are able to take on bigger projects."

For a long time there were no Fabulous Women meetings, no rules, everything was just very informal. The group has been instrumental in raising funds for injured Petaluma teen and for , the Rohnert Park woman who was hurt in an accident that killed her two-year-old daughter as well as and other kid-related entities. 

It’s funny how what goes around, comes around. A daily follower of Oprah since she was in high school, in 2010 Gawronski was part of Oprah's Christmas Giveaway Show, which honored community volunteers. In March of this year The Fabulous Women was featured in Women’s Day magazine for making a difference.

“Krista showed us that you don’t have to be a rich woman to be a philanthropist in your community. None of the recognition has changed her, only inspired her to do more,” said Smith.

As the group grew Gawronski realized that harnessing that positive energy as a nonprofit will help them do even more. It will allow them to bank seed money for numerous projects including pumping life into fine arts programs in Petaluma schools.

The Fabulous Women are gearing up for a five-year anniversary celebration to be held Oct. 22 event at Sova Gardens in Sebastopol – “just 11 minutes north of Petaluma!”

Wonder what else the girls have up their sleeves? It may be summer in the Wine Country, but for Gawronski it’s already Christmas – in her head.

“This year we will launch The Festival of Lights” with Basin Street Properties at Theater Square. We’ll have groups and businesses decorate special trees to bid on for charity.”

The Festival of Trees will be a free family friendly event on Dec. 3, 9 and 10 from 5 to 10 p.m. Mark your calendar now.

“It’s going to be awesome!” Gawronski said, hugging me as we left our meeting.

And you know what? I believed her.

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