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Press Release
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Feature! - Giving In Marin With Don Santa And Woodlands Market Wednesday, November 12, 2008  Don Santa greets us wearing jeans, flip-flops and Livestrong pullover. The owner of uber-successful Woodlands Market in Kentfield, doesn't exactly fit the image of a business executive. But when it comes to giving back to the community, Santa is all business. This is the first in a series of stories on people and organizations who are Giving in Marin- 
The weekend of October 4th didn't look very promising, weather-wise. It was raining, and Pam Meyer, Executive Director of Adopt A Family of Marin was a bit worried about their annual fundraiser- the biggest of the season- which was going to be outside at Don Santa's home the next evening. She needn't have worried- "This was the first year we worked with Don. He opened up his home for our annual fundraiser and it was incredible! We had close to 400 people there, it was outside and then, even the weather cooperated!" 
Ann McIntire, the President of the Ross Valley Women's League who put on the event, agrees-
"The challenge every year for our organization, is to find someone willing to provide their home for the event. We had a chance to see Don's property and approached him about allowing us to hold the fundraiser there. He thought about it for a nanosecond and said yes. He couldn't have been more cooperative. He said he'd be happy to do it!"The huge tent went up, the tables were set and the guests streamed in.  In the middle of one of the worst weeks on Wall Street, Marin opened their hearts and wallets and the Maharaja Madness fundraiser was a huge success, raising over $300,000 for Adopt A Family of Marin.Adopt A Family provides assistance to families with children under 18. They specifically target people who are living on the edge, who might experience one hardship that would be enough to pitch them intohomelessness.They serve about 50-60 families a month with funding assistance for rent, security deposits, food and utility payments . Meyers says they've seen an increase of nearly 40% of families in need during the last six months.McIntire says Santa could not have been more helpful in making it a success- "Usually when we have these events, we don't want to go into the home, we don't want to be intrusive. When we were explaining the set up to Don, he said why don't we just open the front doors. So it was lovely, the doors were wide open and the guests would enter and see the view and it just set the tone."  Making something a success seems to come naturally to Santa. Take Woodlands Market for instance. Woodlands Market has been described as being the 'town center' in Kentfield, and on the day we visited that description wasn't far off. The place was packed with people; shopping, strolling and schmoozing.  The well-designed space is at once- cozy and luxurious. There is a lot of natural light and wood, a full commercial kitchen, overflowing produce bins, a wine section and a huge meat, fish and poultry counter which is actually owned by the Sbragia family. The store is also solar powered; in fact it was the first independent grocery store in the nation to go solar three years ago. Employees bustle about, a few wave to Don as we pass. Woodlands Market employs nearly 200 people.We are making our way down the deli aisle when an older woman spots Santa and throws her arms around him. She's Dr. Schreiner and she's known Don a long time-"I remember Don bagging groceries here. He's done a wonderful job with the market."  Just out of Sonoma State, Don was working as a stockbroker and not too happy. He longed to get back into the people business. Don's Italian family had been grocers from the turn of the century, but closed up shop when the large chains moved in. Despite long odds, Don bought Woodlands Market in 1986 and worked there alongside other family members where they all put in long hours to make it work. In 1995, the Market was remodeled and expanded. Today the store has received numerous awards and is phenomenally successful."Service is the big thing," Don says, "We really focused on quality instead of quantity." Don tries to use small, local growers whenever possible. A family run market using family grown produce- "We have a unique relationship with our growers," he says with more than a bit of pride. Santa owns the flower shop next door. And he is looking forward to a remodel of the front area of the store and the parking lot. He hopes to turn it into more of a plaza; a meeting and gathering place much like his store. One gets the sense he'd like to create an Italian inspired marketplace- like those of his ancestors- right here in Marin. This isn't so strange considering Santa spent a year in Italy.  Fundraising is nothing new at Woodlands Market. Every year for over two decades, the Market has been the site of a large barbecue fundraiser for Kentfield schools, providing not only the location, but all the food and also monetary donations. Just this past September, Santa raised $27,000 for the schools, adding to the over $2.2 million he's raised in total over the years for area charities. In order to be more focused on the charity work, Don and his sister Sue, formed Woodlands Market Community Foundation earlier this year. Sue is the Executive Director. Don is thrilled about their new division- "We want to spend and direct [money raised] in the most efficient way possible, and we're really excited about that."Joanne, another sister, lives on the property with her family. They share the spacious multi-acre ground with Don's two children, ten-year old Sophia and eight year-old Enzo. We got a chance to spend some time with Don at his hillside home in Ross.  The 20-acre spread is luscious. A Tuscan-style home with a breath-taking view of the hills, sits on beautifully landscaped grounds that are studded with roses, lavender, rosemary, citrus trees and Italian cypress. Even though the multi-acre property could easily carry a much larger home, Santa opted to build it on a smaller scale but with an eye to exquisite detail. The roof tiles- recycled and imported from Italy- are two hundred years old. On this home, they look as if they'd always been there. The house itself was mostly built from recycled timber from trees that were felled in order to build the dwelling. There are natural rock cropping mounds here and there, from stones that were found on the property. As we stroll through the grounds, we spy a large camping tent pitched on one of the grassy areas. Don laughs and says his daughter has just had a birthday party and she wanted to camp. It's camping all right, but with a much nicer view. As we wend our way back to the house, Don talks a bit about future plans. He is currently involved in a project to put another Woodlands Market in Tiburon. He's experienced some push-back from a few residents there, who don't like the idea of their old shopping store being replaced. Don seems confident that when the project is finished in 2010, the naysayers will be won over.  He's got other dreams too. He waves his arm back, pointing to the acreage behind us saying he'd love to see an organic garden, or small farm there. And he'd like to set up some type of local Farmer's Market, where one neighbor grows something and sells to another neighbor. He thinks it would be neat to hold cooking classes on the property and- in true Italian fashion- would love to plant a vineyard. Again you get the sense he's trying to recreate a bit of Italy, a sense of village and community-"I love the idea of sharing this place with as many as possible," he says. He sounds like really he means it. Details- Adopt A Family of Marin website and phone number- 415 456-7805 Ross Valley Women's League websiteWoodlands Market Community Foundation contact -sue@woodlandsmarketfoundation.com Woodlands Market is also a substantial food contributor to Homeward Bound of Marin.  (Photo of Ross Valley Women's League group portrait is courtesy of Drew Altizer and by permission of Adopt A Family of Marin) (Photo at Barbecue is courtesy of Marinscope Newspapers) (Photo below shows the Woodlands Market solar roof panels.) Posted by Pam Gould at 01:20 PM in Buzz!, Family Life!, It's Only $$$, MoreMarin Feature!, Ross-Kentfield | Permalink ShareThis Gary Tobin Principal TOBIN & Associates www.garytobin.com 415-256-9490
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