Hello Zontians,

The holiday party will find me in St. Louis. But I will be thinking about you all and know you will have your usual high time fighting over hand crocheted scarves and special cookbooks.

You will remember to bring gifts for the women at Full Circle Alternatives and someone will deliver them in all our names. Good On You!

I know we are all keeping Mary Louis Clay in our hearts for her recovery. My most sincere wishes go to her as to all of you, for a sane, peaceful, and loving holiday and a healthy, joyous and prosperous New Year

Holiday Hugs to All,
Pamela

Mayor Rivera and members of the City Council:

My name is Ellen Slavitz, I'm honored to be here today representing the Zonta Club of the Pikes Peak Area. Actually, I first heard about Zonta at this same forum last year. I joined soon after, and, well, here I am.

So, let me tell you a little about this wonderful group.

Zonta International is a worldwide service organization of professional women. Our mission is to IMPROVE THE STATUS OF WOMEN -- legal, political, economic, educational, and professional. Zonta is a Sioux Indian word meaning "Honest and Trustworthy." We're open to all professional women, regardless of other affiliations.

Headquartered in Chicago, Zonta started in 1919 in Buffalo, New York. Currently there are more than 33 thousand members in over 12 hundred clubs in 69 countries. So we are, truly, an international organization.

But Zonta is unique in that each local club participates in both international and local projects.

Together with our sister clubs, Pikes Peak Zonta financially supports programs that help some of the most deprived and disadvantaged women in the world.

I'll give you just one example. This year Zonta International is helping women in Afghanistan through major contributions to a Women's Learning Center and Health Clinic, sponsored by the Afghan Institute of Learning. This program empowers women by making education and health care more available to them. It also provides training in human rights, leadership, and professional skills

Recently, Zonta has also supported programs that address domestic violence of women and children in India and trafficking of women in Bosnia-Herzegovina, among others.

But, as I mentioned, Zonta "thinks globally and acts locally" as the saying goes. Each Zonta club contributes money and time to organizations that help women in our own communities.

The Pikes Peak Area Zonta Club supports two such entities:

• One is Project InterCept-this a program of the Women's Resource Agency that mentors at risk middle- and high-school girls.
• The other is Full Circle Alternatives, which provides transitional living for women recovering from substance abuse.

In addition to the projects we support, Zonta educates its diverse membership, through monthly meetings, about issues relevant to women. For example, last month we welcomed a Kurdish woman who lives here in Colorado Springs. She spoke first-hand about what Kurds experienced under the Taliban.

And, believe it or not, we also have some fun!

So, when our club holds its annual fashion show in the spring, or sells fresh nuts in the fall, we have no problem coaxing our friends and families to shell out a few bucks, because they know the money is going to improve the daily existence of some of our neediest sisters.

The theme of today's forum is "How do international links contribute to the quality of life in Colorado Springs."

Zonta Issues and Programs

Education, Leadership and Youth Development Preventing Violence Against Women International Service

Let's take a closer look at International Service this month. Women worldwide continue to face discrimination on a broad scale. Many women lack opportunities to live healthy lives, free of legal, social, economic and political discrimination. The following stats tell the story:

• 70 percent of the world's 1.3 billion poor are women.
• Two-thirds of the illiterate adults in the world are women and two-thirds of the children not in school today are girls.
• 60 million women who should be alive today are "missing" because of violence associated with gender discrimination.
• Every year an estimated 4 million women and girls are bought and sold worldwide.
• Every month of every year, over 40,000 women in developing nations die from pregnancy related causes.

More than US$6 million has been provided to projects benefiting over 2 million women in more than 25 countries.

The Nov. 1 workshop for Community Alternatives was an outstanding success. On the evaluations the women gave us all "5's" on every single evaluation question, except that one gave us a 4 on one question. Tremendous appreciation for the elegant journals given by Zonta members, the elegance of the candle and the peacock feather rituals, and the gourmet, elegantly-served food. They gave us intense and continuous participation, some GOOD writing, and entreaties to return so that they can continue, and bring other women with them. We do have a return date.

We are presenting a workshop for Full Circle on Nov. 30th, and 3 for Intercept (WRA) on Jan. 24, Jan. 30 and Feb. 7. We expect about 12 participants in each, totaling 48 women and girls, plus the repeaters when we return to Community Alternatives.

Costs:
The Nov. 1 workshop cost almost exactly $100 for 9 participants.
$23. In flowers, candles, peacock feathers and other props
$70. for an excellent luncheon of croissant sandwiches and tiramisu.
We brought the good china and silverware from our homes.
$ 7. For copying, notepads and pens.

For 12 participants the cost will be about $125.

On Nov. 1 we had enough gift-journals that Zonta members had donated. In the future, after we run out of those, journals will be an added expense of about $8 or $10 per person. The average size of group is 11-14, when we have 8 or 9 participants and 2 or 3 instructors and the group's sponsor-counselor.

We can, of course, present a cheaper workshop if we skip some of the props and serve "ordinary" food. Yet with certain groups of women we think it is important to honor and celebrate them in "un-institutional" ways, since they respond with such delighted surprise and new confidence. The elegance and respect convince them that this really isn't just another "class." The women at Community Alternatives sent me thank you notes, and one wrote, "Thank you so much for all the emotional impact that you thrust into my heart and soul. You were truly a blessing for me. Thanks for making the spark come back to my life - I will continue to write." Karen Dannewitz, their director, wrote, "Thank you for your sparkle and enthusiasmyour time and caring," and I think the "caring" part had much to do with the elegant touches.

If Zonta approves some grant money to these workshops, Mighty Muse will give Zonta the receipts to account for what we spent. For the moment we estimate a cost of $100 to $125 per workshop until we run out of journals, and then about $180.