Zonta makes History

Nov. 1, 2006

Leveraging their collective energy, the Traverse City Zonta Club is of women, by women and for women.
With a mission to help women and children, the local affiliate of an international service organization has been lending a hand in the community for 50 years. Celebrating their five-decade milestone this year, the 95 members of the Zonta Club of Traverse City are involved in a service project to help single women striving for an education, while another effort supports the proposed Munson Breast Health Center.
“As a woman it’s just satisfying to be helping women and children,” said club president Deanna Cannon, a local CPA and a member of Zonta for 20 years. “It’s very empowering, you can’t accomplish a lot if you’re not helping each other and supporting each other.”
“It’s surprising-the need, even in our small town of Traverse City,” she added.

LOCAL TRADITION
The tradition of Zonta women helping women began in 1956 when the new club’s members raised money to help furnish cooperative housing at Northwestern Michigan College, then just five years old itself. Over the next 50 years, the club’s two-year cycles of giving have provided equipment, training, scholarships and support to a range of organizations. Besides the college, recipients include Munson Medical Center, day care programs, the Traverse City Senior Center, Probate Court Volunteer Services, a drug prevention initiative, the Grand Traverse County Sheriff’s Department and the Women’s Resource Center.
Scholarship for Change has been a mainstay with Zonta Club of Traverse City for ten years. This program helps single women referred from the Women’s Resource Center pursue an education at Northwestern Michigan College so they can improve their lives. After the sudden death earlier this year of Mary Lee Lord, executive director of the Women’s Resource Center for 15 years and a long-time Zonta member, the club also established an endowment fund this year for the program.
“It is set up in honor of Mary Lee Lord,” said Cannon.
To invest in future generations, from 1992-2005 the club’s Project 100 program encouraged eighth grade girls to pursue math and science studies as a path to possible careers. The program began with 100 girls and quickly grew to where attendance was capped at the first 300 who signed up. Conflicts with MEAP testing put the project on hold this year while Zonta members reassess how to best mentor this crucial age.

HANDS-ON SERVICE
The club has two major fundraisers every year: the Z-Tee golf outing that raises approximately $10,000 every June and the Festival of Trees each November. The pre-holiday season event this year will be held at the Hagerty Center from November 15 to 19. Typically these extravaganzas raises between $30,000-40,000 for the organization to disburse among their causes. Club members also help out at the United Way Day of Caring and the NMC BBQ.
“I think everybody embraces our mission of helping women through hands-on service,” said Cannon. “There’s no lack of opportunity to serve your community here.”
Almost all the funds raised by the organization stay in the local community, although a portion does go to help programs selected by Zonta International’s board of directors. Worldwide, Zonta boasts 32,000 members in 1,200 clubs in 68 countries, making it a powerful global force for women and children.
“On the international side of it, there are several projects that the board adopts, and the local clubs are asked to contribute to those, but there is no dollar amount required,” Cannon noted. “What you do locally with the funds raised is entirely up to the club.”

For more information on the Zonta Club of Traverse City or the upcoming Festival of Trees, see www.zontacluboftraversecity.org.