Service

Zonta International is passionate about providing life-changing opportunities for women and girls through international service. By partnering with agencies of the United Nations and other recognized non-governmental organizations, Zonta has improved women’s health, provided better economic opportunities and prevented gender-based violence in 66 countries. Here’s how some of our District 15 clubs provide local life-changing opportunities for women and girls in their area: 

Charter date: 1956   Number of members: 54

Service projects:
Our club members sew and stuff breast pillows that are distributed to any women who undergoes a procedure at the Smith Breast Health Center.
Recently, our members have enjoyed working on Women Builds in partnership with our local Habitat for Humanity. Two of our members attended the dedication of the home that they had helped build.

Charter date:  Nov. 1927     Number of members: 21
In those 90 years over $500,000 has been contributed to benefit local women.

Ongoing Local Service Projects:

  • Haven’s S.T.A.R.T. Program(Safe Therapeutic Assault Response Team) – a program for victims of sexual assault
  • Grace Centers of Hope Women– various programs designed for rehabilitation and hope
  • Career Dress– non profit providing women appropriate clothing/accessories for interviews and work place
  • Making Strides Against Breast Cancer– yearly walk to raise funds for breast cancer research
  • The Ellen Dolsen Memorial Scholarship– annual Non-Traditional Scholarship granted to a local applicant working to further their education effort to return to the work force

Recent Service Projects:
Zontians helping Zontians: After the news of the devastation that a dam failure caused we reached out to the Midland Club and asked how we could help.  With the help from Midland President, Cindy Vickery, 5 families were targeted. We provided gift cards to Lowes and local restaurants to help them out as they rebuilt.  The club rose to the challenge and over $850.00 dollars was collected.  We were glad to help our Zonta sisters in their immediate need.

“Your Drink’s On Us”: At its April, 2020 Business Meeting, Zonta Club of Pontiac North Oakland members were unanimous in wanting to support hospital workers. With some creative thinking, the ‘Your Drink is on Us’ project was created. The club provided nearly 800 soda and vitamin drinks to St. Joseph Mercy Oakland Hospital, ICU unit, to support our heroes in May and June 2020.

Charter date: March 30, 1978.  Number of members: 38

Service projects: We are proud of all our service projects which currently include scholarships and awards in the secondary schools, college and university, support for the Sault Ste. Marie public library, gardening at the local women’s shelter, providing clothing to the Sexual Assault Care Centre, Comfort Pillows, Days for Girls reusable hygiene kits and ovarian cancer awareness.

Charter date: November, 1919  Number of members: 20

Currently we are supporting our member Lacey Catarino who is founder of the Clean Love Project. Our members have donated supplies for the kits she distributes to shelters in the Detroit area.

Charter date: September 18, 1948.  Number of members: 16

Other projects helped with our raised funds are the Chatham’s Women’s’ Centre, the Sexual Assault Crisis Centre and the All for Kids group. We also provide funds for clothing to the rape department at our Chatham-Kent Health Alliance. We offer two music awards complete with medals annually to the Kiwanis Music Festival. We send funds to India to educate a young Dalit girl who would otherwise not be able to attend school. We support a girls’ soccer team each summer as well we often support for girls’ high school sports teams throughout the year if the request has been made. We also help other private requests by letter after the service committee has approved it.

Charter date: December 13, 1971   Number of members: 28

The club took its role as a service club very seriously and immediately became an integral part in the fabric of the Petoskey area. Meetings were regularly publicized in the Petoskey News-Review as well as new officer installations.  The club was also highly engaged in fundraising to support local needs.

 

Zonta of Petoskey’s service projects include:

 

  • Sewing up to 100 mastectomy pillows each year for women who are diagnosed with breast cancer at McLaren Northern Michigan.
  • Remodeling one room in our local safe home with paint, new carpet, new bedding each year.
  • In 2019, through a 100 for $100 campaign celebrating the centennial of Zonta, we raised close to $4,500 for the 2020 Barrier Busters project.  The club matched the donations, awarding $10,000 ($5,000 each) to two nonprofit organizations serving Emmet County – Women’s Resource Center of Northern Michigan and the Health Department of Northwest Michigan, to provide financial assistance to women to help them overcome barriers that may prevent them from meeting essential needs and/or advancing themselves. According to the 2017 United Way ALICE Project Report, nearly 40 percent of Emmet County residents either live in poverty or are a paycheck away from experiencing hardship. When a woman has a situation that could potentially prevent her from achieving her highest potential, she will be able to receive a small amount of financial assistance to overcome that barrier. An unexpected medical bill or car trouble that would be an inconvenience for some can create a crisis situation for some women in our community.

Charter Date: May 1994                       Number of members: 12

SERVICE PROJECTS:
Fundraising and hands-on support of First Step: Wayne Co Project on Domestic and Sexual Violence. We have participated in several activities at the shelter, including birthday cake packages for residents, Valentine’s and Halloween parties. Our 25 year Fundraiser “Steppin’ Out in Style” has allowed us to donate $541,500 to First Step through that fundraiser alone.

 

Our Mastectomy Pillow Project continues and is supported by two community grants: Game on Cancer (a partnership between Detroit Athletic teams and Henry Ford Health System) and RPT Realty, which supports our efforts for St Joe’s. We have several individual community volunteers who help us sew. Since 2016, we have provided over 700 pillows to HF Health System and St. Joes.

 

We were proud to represent District 15 with this project in THE ZONTIAN magazine – Digital Copy – May 2019 – Volume 2.

Charter Date: 1972          Number of members: 24

The Zonta Club of the Marquette Area has focused on 2 major areas of our mission this year:  Service and Advocacy.

Service:  Zonta had one of its most successful fundraising efforts last Fall selling Koeze Nuts.  As a result, we gave out five $1000 scholarships, and money to 18 different local agencies ranging between $250 – $1000 each.   Distributing these funds was particularly gratifying as the need in our community was even greater during this pandemic.

ZONTA International Service Initiatives

 

International service has been integral to Zonta International’s mission since Zonta funded its first international service project – relief efforts to care for 115,000 orphan children in Smyrna, Turkey – in 1923. Since that first project, Zonta’s international service efforts have grown to more than US$16.5 million for projects in 60 countries across six continents.

Through these international service projects, funded primarily through agencies of the United Nations and other non-governmental organizations, Zonta International improves women’s lives by increasing their access to education, health care, legal services and economic opportunities while supporting efforts to prevent and end violence against women and girls in all its forms.

These programs and projects are made possible through donations to the Zonta International Foundation.

 

ZONTA International Service Projects

 

Zonta Mission in Action