About the Zonta Club of St. Cloud

The Zonta Club of St Cloud was chartered on November 9, 1950, with 21 chartering members. The major local service focus for our Zonta Club began with scholarships and, 59 years later, we continue to support education and literacy via scholarships and monetary support to programs which further education and literacy.
We conduct three major fund-raisers each year in support of our non-traditional scholarship program and two local programs which provide assistance to women in transition to a better life: Anna Marie's (a shelter for battered women) and Journey Home (an extended care facility for chemically dependent women and their children). Our members also donate their time to various community service projects throughout the year.

Zonta International

Zonta International, celebrating it's 90th Anniversary this year, is a global organization of executives and professionals working together to advance the status of women worldwide through service and advocacy. Nearly 33,000 members belong to more than 1,200 Zonta Clubs in 67 countries and geographic areas.

 We've come a long way since our founding in Buffalo, New York, USA back in 1919. 
The first Zonta club was comprised of five women whose mission was to create a strong network of women in executive positions who would work to take their rightful place in the professions next to men.  The first 600 members were among the 4 first generation of college-educated women, the first generation of North American women to vote, and a part of the growing legion of women entering the workforce.  The organization's name, ZONTA, is a word meaning honest and trustworthy, derived form the Lakhota language of the Native-American Sioux peoples.
Zonta became international with the organization of the first European club, the Zonta Club of Vienna, Austria in 1930.
Over the years, Zonta provided financial support to the care of 115,000 orphan children in Turkey, made girls equal education in the United States a priority, supported the fledgling United Nations, pushed for gender equity in employment and advocated for equal rights.  In 1938, Zonta launched the Amelia Earhart Fellowship Program.  Then Zonta President Ellen Parks remembers that "At that time few women considered a career in aerospace engineering, yet not one voice of doubt was raised as to the success of such a scholarship."  Now we issue 35 of these $10,000 a year and past recipients include astronauts and some of our top scientists!

Our Mission

• Zonta International seeks to:

  ▪	improve the legal, political, economic, health, educational and professional status of women through service and advocacy;
  ▪	work for the advancement of understanding, goodwill and peace through a world fellowship of executives in business and the professions;
  ▪	promote justice and universal respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms;
  ▪	be united internationally to foster high ethical standards, implement service programs, and provide mutual support and fellowship for members who serve their communities, their nations and the world

Board of Directors effective 6/1/2011

From left to right, back row: Deb Kellerman, Vicki Erickson, Area Director Alice Smith, Immediate Past President, Susan Voeltz From left to right, bottom row: Susan Dropp, President Susan Kadlec, Vice-President Gayle Borchert

Not pictured:  Pat Molitor, Mary Nimmerfroh, Kay Sebastian, and Debra Schroeder

See the entire current board here.

To Learn more about Zonta International, please visit our website at Zonta.org

 

Interested in joining us?  Click here for more information. Or send us a letter at:
            Zonta Club of St Cloud
            P.O. Box 7453
            St Cloud, MN  56302-7453