November 2, 2005. Olympia, WA, – The Honorable Governor of Washington State, Mrs. Christine Gregoire on Wednesday presented Dr. Wendy M. Schauer, DC, RKC with the award for this year’s “Woman of Influence” at a ceremony by the YWCA.

Presented once each year, the YWCA Women of Achievement Awards are given to women in the community who have made significant contributions within specific arenas as a volunteer or through their career.

The YWCA panel announced it had received over 20 essays nominating Dr. Wendy for the 2005 “Woman of Influence” award. The distinction resulted from Dr. Wendy’s efforts to bring health and self-confidence to women in the community of Olympia Washington.

Dr. Wendy’s accomplishments, and her desire to make positive changes in the lives of others, was best characterized by the nomination letter of Mark Edgar Stephens, a Life Coach and inner makeover expert who has appeared on Oprah (reprinted below).

“Dr. Wendy Schauer, DC, RKC is the President of Community Chiropractic, P.S. and the Co-Founder of Abundant Fitness Center, Inc. in Olympia, WA. Wendy’s level of commitment to her work, to her community, and to her patients is boundless. She uses the power of intention to create an atmosphere where people are empowered to be responsible for their greatest optimal health. It was Wendy’s desire to create a strong, well-aligned body for herself and for others that originally led her to becoming a doctor of Chiropractic. However, she wanted to do more than just work with realigning the body through her skill and talent as a Chiropractor. She embraced opportunities to help people strengthen their bodies structurally, energetically, and emotionally. She wanted to empower people so that they could do something to increase not just their strength and flexibility, but to feel better on a day-to-day basis.

“When her own body image and structural strength were challenged as a result of an injury, she didn’t just accept that it was a natural part of aging or “just a pain she would have to learn to tolerate”. She did something about it. Wendy went through months of training herself using Russian Kettlebells, round cast-iron weights, like cannonballs with handles. After much research and many classes, Wendy was so impressed by what this full-body training was doing for her that she started driving some of her patients seventy to eighty miles to share in the benefits she had experienced herself. With encouragement from her husband, her Kettlebell instructors, and her patients, Wendy decided to become a Kettlebell instructor and bring the training to her local community. After months of intense work and a strenuous testing process, Wendy became a fully certified Kettlebell instructor.

“She began offering classes in the evening four days a week, after already devoting a full day to working with patients. Within weeks, Wendy’s passion for health and healing created a following of people with the desire to become more powerful and healthy in their own lives. While she could have stopped there, changing her life and the lives of her patients, Wendy wanted to offer even more. She is currently in the planning stages of moving her business to a larger space where she will provide a fully functioning “Kettlebell Gym”. This space will be used for seminars and training classes in all areas of health and healing. Her business, Community Chiropractic, P.S., is quickly becoming something greater than a doctor’s office.

“Wendy is reaching out into the community with a desire and intention to give back all that she has received. Wendy has taken under her wing young women in the throws of discouragement, steering them on a path toward self-confidence and helping to light their inner passion to achieve. Her strength, determination, and commitment to helping others have greatly impacted those around her. Wendy understands that you receive the most by giving the best that you have to give. She has a strong sense of purpose, a message of hope and encouragement, and serves as a powerful example to other women. The result is a woman and a community that becomes stronger, healthier, and more empowered.”