Guardian Angel: The Many Pursuits of Kathleen F. Cellura

Photo credit: Maggie Martinez

At 87 years, Kathi Cellura has energy that belies her age. She moves around her villa with apparent ease, presenting meticulously arranged collections of angels, cat statues, and stuffed bears, plucking one here or there to share the story of its provenance. A number of these were gifts given to Kathi from the many people whose lives she’s touched.

“I’m going to need a bigger villa,” she laughs. “Look at all these angels.” For 30 years, Cellura has made a name for herself as a generous philanthropist whose sweeping impact covers an enormous range of causes. Many in the community know her as a fixture at fundraising events, instantly recognizable by the many colorful and stylish hats she wears.

In 1995, she established the Kathleen F. Cellura Foundation at the Community Foundation of Sarasota County to support a variety of organizations—with missions in human services, the arts, animal welfare, education, the environment and more. She has also thoughtfully established a Future Fund at the Community Foundation to ensure that the legacy of her benevolence endures, with nearly two dozen organizations that range in cause areas as beneficiaries of her philanthropy.

While her gifts have been prodigious, she’s chosen a life of simplicity. Instead of opting for indulgence, she’s spent years researching how to make the most of the money she’s earned throughout a long career spanning four decades and encompassing several occupations—as a teacher, real estate broker, and published author.

For the last several decades, she has embraced every opportunity to enhance her community, donating her time, talent and treasure to make the world a better place.

Small Child, Big Heart

Cellura noticed at an early age that she possessed an unusual capacity for compassion. One of her earliest memories, at the popular amusement park at Canandaigua Lake in New York, involves recognizing the plight of those less fortunate.

Noticing a child eyeing a special treat Cellura’s father had purchased from a park purveyor, she could sense the child longed for her goodie. Cellura watched as the child pled with her own father to buy a treat, the father sadly shaking his head, making it clear that was a request he couldn’t afford.

Cellura’s eyes still well with tears when she thinks of it, her natural empathy surfacing any time she considers inequity or injustice.

“Until you walk in the moccasins of another person, stop and think, it could be me,” she says.

Since that day, when she was just 10 years old, she’s used this power of observation and the pursuit of fairness to propel her action. This has been the case whether that was choosing to teach at an inner-city Rochester school in the heated wake of Rochester’s race riots of 1964—a decision she made so that she could have a positive impact on young people of color—or supporting the Women’s Resource Center to empower women experiencing hardship to take control of their lives. In one such move, she has promised her car, a pristine, low-mileage Camry, to the Women’s Resource Center to give to a working mother in need.

Legacy through Letters

While philanthropy and community involvement have played a vital part in Cellura’s community contributions, she also took to another reliable legacy-builder: the written word.

In 2011, after “realizing that the written word is a form of immortality,” she published a novel, “Forever Footprints.” The loosely biographical novel, based on the true story of a dog rescue, emphasizes themes common to Cellura’s life: that doing good for others reaps gifts that are meaningful and lasting. Love, the book suggests, is a gift that lasts forever.

The book is more than a message to the world; its proceeds have gone directly to the Kathleen F. Cellura Foundation. From there, she invested those dollars back into South Sarasota County, where most of her giving is concentrated.

Powering through Difficulty

While Cellura’s spry gait and sharp wit give her an ageless quality, in truth she’s been dealing with autoimmune diseases for decades. An active person with demanding careers, Cellura’s bouts with flare-ups have interfered with her athletic pursuits and created difficulty in her professional life.

“I am always in pain,” she says, remembering years of teaching “in agony,” returning home depleted, only to face another day of similar difficulties brought about by the chronic illness.

To get ahead of the pain, she maintains an elaborate daily routine of exercise—like pedaling through her neighborhood 45 minutes each morning—and palliative care that maintains her quality of life. It keeps her moving, and her commitment is one of many habits Cellura keeps that demonstrate her discipline and the intentional way she moves through life.

"Anyone can be a philanthropist, I want to encourage them. Women, young people—I want to be a model, a woman of substance to show them they can do it." - Kathleen Cellura

Despite the pain that could have kept her from living life to its fullest, she has persisted forward, finding joy in mentoring, remaining active, and supporting organizations through philanthropy. She hopes to be an example to others who may feel that their health circumstances prevent them from engaging in their community, lamenting that many forego important work because they feel too burdened with health issues to seize upon their potential for creating impact.

In that same vein, she hopes to inspire women to live their passion through pursuing philanthropy.

“Anyone can be a philanthropist,” she says. “I want to encourage them. Women, young people—I want to be a model, a woman of substance to show them they can do it.”

With that, she picks up a wooden carving of an angel, a gift from a woman she refers to as her “daughter of my heart.” This is another woman whose difficult circumstance caught Cellura’s attention, another story that propelled her into action as a mentor. The angel is inscribed with a heartfelt message of gratitude. After sharing its story, Cellura tenderly replaces it on the shelf. Now that the woman and her family have achieved stability, she can repay Cellura in a way that transcends transaction—she gives her love.