Press Room Item:

9/10/2008

The Beauty of Giving--Improving the lives of women and children in our area

Federico’s Design Jewelers are perennial supporters of the Zonta Club of Traverse City’s Festival of Trees Fashion Show. The theme of this year’s show, “The Beauty of Giving” underscores this effort. While the name of Zonta may not be familiar to you, perhaps the club has touched your life in some invisible way.

     Every two years the club selects one or two major service projects, in the recent biennium the club committed $25,000 to the new Smith Family Breast Health Center at Munson Medical Center and $25,000 to establish an endowed scholarship program at Northwestern Michigan College for female victims of domestic violence. Regular club projects include sending two young women to NASA Space Camp each summer, the “pillow project” (this group sews soft flannel pillows for women who have undergone a biopsy or mastectomy, dispersed by Munson staff), hands-on service during the NMC Barbeque, as well as other scholarship and literacy projects.

     Other grants awarded this year include $15,000 to Grand Traverse County for its Twin Lakes Park project (to create a universally accessible waterfront recreation area); the Department of Human Services Laundry Project (on the BATA route to provide laundry facilities for teens and adults who would not otherwise have access to them); Child & Family Services (to purchase software to enable efficiencies); the Z Club (Zonta’s teen local high school counterpart); the Boys and Girls Club; Girl Tech; the Grand Traverse Area Children’s Garden, and the Doula Teen program. All projects must further the club’s mission to “improve the lives of women and children in our area”. An emphasis is placed on projects and programs that encourage young women to further their skills in mathematics, science and aviation (Amelia Earhart was an early Zonta Club member).

     These activities are all funded through the Zonta Golf Outing in June, and the slate of Festival of Trees events in November—and support from local businesses such as Federico’s allow Zonta to channel the maximum amount of funds to where they are needed most.  Details on this year’s Festival of Trees events are available on the club website at: www.zontacluboftraversecity.org. Federico’s Design Jewelers have generously supported Zonta in the past, and continue to do so their major sponsorship of this year’s Fashion Show.

     This club of nearly 100 professional women operates on an entirely volunteer basis; there is no office and no staff. The club meets twice a month for lunch, and all other activities are arranged through committee after-hours meetings. This local club is a branch of Zonta International, to date there are nearly 33,000 members in 1,200 Zonta Clubs worldwide.

     If you would like to attend this year’s Fashion Show tickets will go on sale in September for $45 each. The price includes a luncheon and the runway fashion show. Thank you to Federico’s Design Jewelers for supporting Zonta and showing the beauty of giving!