Zonta Club of Melton 1997-2017

The Zonta Club of Melton is a part of District 23 which covers 2/3rds of Australia.

District 23 is broken up into 5 Areas and Melton belongs to Area 1 which covers Southeast Victoria.

Officially chartered on 24 May 1997 with 27 members.  Pat Fraser and the Zonta Club of Ballarat were instrumental in getting our club up and running.

As with all clubs, numbers fluctuate – currently we have 16 Members with a new member being inducted shorty bringing our total to 17 members

When we joined Zonta we agreed to serve our club and the community when called upon.  You know sometimes this can be difficult as we have our own family to care for and most members work in full time or part time jobs.  But somehow we manage to find the time.  We see and hear about the benefits that this time no matter how large or small has made an impact on women, young girls and their families in our local and international community.  This brings about a sense of achievement and I am proud to be a Zontian and will continue to dedicate whatever time I can spare to improve and empower other woman and young girls.

In the last 20 years our club has had many achievements.  As a small club we I think we should be very proud and that is why we are here today to celebrate no matter whether you have been in Zonta for 20 years or one year, be proud that you are helping other women which in turn helps their family and our community.

A member who has since deceased worked tirelessly as a Zontian whilst coping and struggling with cancer.  In her honour and to encourage and acknowledge current members we established the Christina Durinck Award and this is presented each year by the president to a deserving member.

Our commitment to ZI

Donated each year to the Zonta International Foundation whatever we could.  We have supported many of the international projects and see the difference this has made.  Members were involved and participated at the International Convention held in Melbourne in 2006.  We may not get to every international convention each year but we support a proxy to represent us. 

We even made it into the international Zontian magazine  recently – how excited where we?

DISTRICT 23

We have supported D23 with district projects.  Attended many District conference and Members have over the past 20 years taken on District positions in United Nations/Advocacy, Young Woman in Public Affairs and Area Director.

AREA 4

Members attend workshops each year and have even hosted a workshop in Melton.  Building Better Boards was a great initiative and has assisted our club in many ways.

At a Local Level

FUNDRAISING

To meet our service goals each year we need to raise funds.  This at times can be a battle when we are competing with so many other fund raisers in our community  all chasing that same dollar but somehow we manage to do this and have fun along the way.

Fundraisers have included fashion parades, trivia nights, community raffles , lucky envelopes, shopping trips, gift wrapping and god only knows how many sausages we have cooked at the Bunnings BBQ’s.

In summing up the club has raised around $168,000 over the 20 years, not a bad effort for such a small club.  After a few expenses most of this has been donated back into the local and international community for service projects.

SERVICE

Probably one of our biggest service projects has been celebrating  International Womens Day which we have celebrated each year since the club commenced in 1997.  During the first five years we celebrated this day with a breakfast at the then local Greenworld nursery where local women shared their stories.  In 2004 we moved to an evening dinner event where prominent women were invited to come and speak.  The aim was to provide an opportunity for local women to enjoy an evening with high profile women who spoke about their lives, their achievements and challenges.  This annual event is inspirational and entertaining.  The night generally ends up with a big WOW asking ourselves how can we find another woman who could top that.  We always do as there are many amazing women out there who do amazing things.  This event was never meant to be a fund raiser, we aim to cover our costs and it  has always been run as a community service .

Since 2006 at each IWD dinner we present the “Woman of Note” award to a very deserving local woman who has given her time, above and beyond to serve the local community.  Sophie was our first recipient of this award.

For 20 years we have supported Red Cross calling, the local Melton Combined Churches Caring Group and have dressed up as Easter bunnies to hand out Easter eggs to the elderly in the local aged care facility.  The residents love the easter eggs and it brings much joy to some who don’t have regular visits from their family.  We love it too.

The Caring Kids Project commenced in 1999 it provided an opportunity for children who were carers to parents and siblings, to enjoy some time out to be kids.  In 2000 we received the Victorian Council of Community Service Clubs - Single Club Award.  What an honour.  This project was taken over by TRY Community Services in 2001.

Members raised $5000 for Relay for Life .  These funds enabled our club to name our own research project.   Zonta Melton Power –for Ovarian cancer research.

Ongoing projects include

The Endeavour Awards - sponsorships for local female students at 3 local schools to support them with the purchase of school books and other items.

In my shoes project which assists Victoria Police understand the womens perspective on the difficulties they face during family and domestic violence.

The CHIC program assists secondary female students cope with self esteem issues empowering them to face bullying, peer pressure and many other teenage issues.

The ZADS Project (Zonta against drink spiking) raised awareness of the issues with drink spiking and provided caps to local hotels free of charge

We have held candlelight remembrance ceremonies for women and families affected by domestic & family violence

We commenced making breast cushions in 2002 and to date made around 900.  In one way it is sad that we have to make so many each year but pleasing to know they provide comfort to women who have undergone breast surgery.  We have received many letters of thanks

We cannot forget the birthing kits which we commenced in 2003 and have to date assembled around 12000 kits – we have saved 12000 women and babies from contracting tetanus during childbirth.

Z CLUB

Students from the  local secondary schools have assisted with the assembly of the birthing kits.  They love it knowing they are making a difference to the lives of many women and children in third world countries.  As a result of this joint effort our club is now well on the way to establishing a Z Club in Melton.  Our members are very proud and look forward to working with young adults in our community.  Not to mention possible future Zontians!

PROMOTION

We continue to promote Zonta in our community through flyers, events, the Djerriwarrh Festival, Facebook and of course our newly revamped website.