|
Zonta Club of the Pikes Peak Area |
Ponderings from the Prez Bits from Betty Member Information Member Profile Dates to Remember |
|
PONDERINGS FROM THE PREZ!from Pamela Sufak |
Hello Zonta Sisters,
First of all a big, big, thank you for the spirit that made our last event so lively and fun! We had more guests, more different viewpoints, and more great food than I can ever remember. It all added up to a stimulating evening.
This is the month of the mayors forum, and our nut deliveries. It is also the month for another wonderful eye opening, horizon expanding, thought provoking program at our regular Zonta meeting. Can't wait to see you all there.
Just one reminder, I am so sorry to report that we still have no fundraising chairman. Please all of you search your hearts and your minds and see what we can do about this. Until someone steps forward I am going to ask the board to take on those duties. To assist the effort, please put on your thinking caps, do not censor yourself, and bring any ideas to the board for consideration!
In this Thanksgiving month, lets count our blessings. Please bring one thought to share about abundance in our lives. We will post them on a board so it can be a picture, a word, a dollar, a paragraph, a secret code, a leaf, a ribbon, etc. Anything that means something to you. There is no need to tell the story, but you will be able to if you wish.
Zonta Love,
Pamela
"Our lives are not in the lap of the gods, but in the lap of our cooks." - Lin Yutang, The Importance of Living, 1937 September Guest Speaker: Mary Peet - contact her regarding nutritional questions: Mary.Peet@memhospcs.org |
Member news: It was great to get our Kansas member Karen Pauley's nut order from Holyrood, KS -- for 69 lbs of nuts! Good job, Karen!
Nobel Prize - How exciting it is to learn of the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to Iranian lawyer and activist Shirin Ebadi for her focus on human rights. This was the first peace prize for a Muslim woman. She said, "This prize doesn't belong to me only -- it belongs to all people who work for human rights and democracy in Iran." What a brave woman to speak out in a society that is not overly supportive of women's rights! Wonder if we would do it...not sure I'm that brave.
Sexual Assault at the Air Force Academy - I was fortunate enough to have a meeting with Pam Subeck, the Gazette reporter who has written many of the articles on this subject since July. We reviewed some of the articles I had collected in a notebook about this subject and agreed that it is a difficult problem to solve and that there are at least two sides to it.
As many of you know, my husband was stationed at the AFA when women first were admitted there and we sponsored one from our home state of Florida. In addition to that, my interest in the subject is based on the facts that Zonta's mission is to advance the status of women, that the women at the AFA have reported being sexually assaulted, and that this is a situation that is right here in our back yard.
After attending the congressional hearing in Colorado Springs in July, I became more interested in how this process was to work. The congressional committee met with some victims, listened to testimony from prior AFA leadership, current AFA leadership, and civilian agencies who deal with assault victims such as TESSA. Their final report was released on September 22 and some highlights are:
-Betty Edwards
 | Announcement***REVISED*** Refreshment Schedule for Upcoming Meetings
Thank you ladies! |
Mark your calendars! |
|
December Service Project
I had a great phone visit with Deb Hallisy of Full Circle Alternatives. She's thrilled that we chose her program for our holiday opportunity. All twelve women in the house should get a stocking filled with small gifts such as: $10 phone cards, bus passes and $10 gift cards to King Soopers and/or WalMart because they are very close. Deb said many will use the WalMart cards to buy gifts for their children. Other practical yet personal items such as socks, gloves, stocking caps, lotions and lip moisturizers would be appreciated. Kitchen things like potholders, towels, wooden spoons, etc. are also fine. I'll deliver our donations, and Deb will fill the stockings on December 16, after our party on Dec. 15. She'll make them as balanced as possible, with some ladies getting more because they need more.
Thanks in advance for your generosity. Bring a stocking filled with goodies to our holiday bash. Let's be sure these ladies have a happy holiday season!
Kris, Status of Women and Service Committee Chair
Please remember to snag those small toiletries when you
stay in hotels. They are really appreciated by the ladies who visit the
Marian House Soup Kitchen. Thanks in advance for bringing them to the
meetings with your clean, empty cottage cheese and yogurt-type containers.
UN/International Committee
Janet Fuehrer, Chair
It is a good idea to review our yearly goals periodically while there is time to make adjustments and/or corrections to the final outcome.
Zonta came into my life at the perfect time. My daughter, Megan, who studies International Affairs and Political Science at CU-Boulder is extremely involved with CU'S Conference on World Affairs. One hundred speakers from around the world are invited annually to address issues of health care, politics, the arts, education and more. When I attended the Conference last April, I felt as if I had woken up from a deep nap.
While I lived in Chicago, after finishing my freshman year of college at Indiana University in Bloomington, I campaigned for independent political candidates, attended meetings of The Council on Foreign Relations and avidly discussed current events with my broad-minded friends. Of course it was the late 60's and 70's. My friends suffered injuries in Lincoln Park during the Democratic Convention. I went to Washington for one of the last peace marches. I was waiting for my boyfriend to come home from Viet Nam. How could you not feel connected to the world?
I lived in Chicago for twelve years working in national product advertising, hospital public relations and at The Virginia Frank Child Development Center for mentally disturbed pre-schoolers. My experience as an educational therapist in training, took me back to college, this time studying child development, K-8 education and psychology.
Moving to Colorado in the late 70's was an inspiring change. My work at Digital Equipment Corporation introduced me to new business skills and new people. I married one of those people and, after Megan was born, we lived in New England for a while. There, I started an educational daycare program in my home, while finishing, finally, after 22 years, at age 40, my bachelor's degree. Hooray. Those last 30 hours were in business management.
When we returned to Colorado Springs in the mid-80's, Megan entered school and I entered the life of a small business owner. First I developed "The Lifetime Organizer," a family system in a notebook, then taught time management workshops to earn money for marketing my product. During this period, I worked with a few others to start a local chapter of the "National Association of Professional Organizers."
Later, I focused on helping students of all ages learn how to learn. As a consultant for Fountain Valley School of Colorado, I developed and taught a program especially for the needs of their students and teachers. As part of Pikes Peak Community College's Corporate, Workforce and Education Development group, I designed training programs, gave seminars and became the Corporate Training Manager. Working with HP, Memorial Hospital, The Gazette and other companies, gave me insight to our local workforce especially when I worked with adults who hadn't been in school for years and came from diverse backgrounds. I told them the story of my 22-year path to a college degree and motivated them so they could gain confidence for the class series they were being required to take by their companies. Another enjoyable project was volunteering for El Paso County Mental Health by giving seminars to 5thgraders on stress management in many local school districts.
As I went toward full time at School District 11, I began to drop my association with the other organizations, including my consulting business. I am now in my 8th year and work full time with 22 schools in designing and marketing community education classes to bring the public into our facilities, as well as lease out our specialized spaces for events, meetings, sports and entertainment. Various events at the district stirred up my interest in diversity issues and I joined the district team and started a film festival for our Central Office to help them become aware of diversity issues in schools.
After my marriage ended, and my sweet daughter, Megan, bonded with college, I was looking for more for myself to focus on and give service. I stumbled upon Zonta's brochure in the Castle Rock Chamber of Commerce office, and went "hmmmm." I am now very awake and honored to be involved with such professional, self-motivated and caring women.
| November 17 | 5:30 pm Board Meeting - Gold Hills Substation |
| November 17 | 6:00 pm General Meeting |
| July 3-8 | 2004 International Convention - New York City |
Please send comments and suggested information for the newsletter to nulty@csdco.com.
Pikes Peak Area Club Information
District 12 Information
Zonta International
|
