April 2015 Newsletter
GREETINGS FROM THE FINANCE COMMITTEE!
The 1st annual wine tasting seemed to be a great success and was lots of fun to attend. Congratulations to Deb Ureel, Jan Hoyt, Lois Britton, Pat Congleton, and Ellen Fitzpatrick for planning a great event!
The Finance Committee is now busy making plans for our next major fundraiser: Zonta Club of Denver II’s annual golf tournament. This year is our 15th annual golf tournament and we have a great new venue: Red Rocks Country Club.
June 15, 2014 should already be on everyone’s calendar for this year’s golf tournament. Everyone on the Finance Committee is very excited about this new venue and we are hoping the new location will create a lot of new interest in the golf tournament. Save the Date cards were mailed in March, so please start following up with your contacts who received one. Also, watch your email for a copy of sponsor letter and list of sponsorship opportunities that you can distribute or mail to potential sponsors.
As always, we welcome any suggestions and ideas for making this year’s golf tournament a success, and we always welcome anyone who would like to attend the Finance Committee meetings.
Carol Leffler
Co-Chair – Finance Committee
The girls at Excelsior assembled 20 Easter baskets as a community service project. In each basket was a plush bunny, candy and a hand made card for the recipient. Carla made a carrot cake in the shape of bunny for the snack. Our May event will include watercoloring.
MEMBERSHIP NEWS
Thanks to our website, we had four guests at our March meeting. Many kudos to our members who made these ladies feel very welcome….especially Lois (who provided a ride home to Linda Schipper), JoAnn, Mary, and Marie. We are hoping they all return this month. In addition. two others will be invited to our April meeting–both of whom were at our Wine Tasting. If you would like to invite someone to our April meeting, please let Carol J. know.
SERVICE ACTIVITIES
Distribution of Service Funds
The Service Committee met to review the grant proposals of 10 organizations and funding of special projects. The Board has reviewed and accepted the recommendations of the Service Committee. Club members will vote on the distribution of service funds at the April general meeting. Mary will email the spreadsheets to members in advance of the meeting.
Excelsior Youth Center
On April 2, the girls in Sequoia Cottage assembled 20 Easter baskets as a community service project. In each basket was a plush bunny, candy and a hand made card for the recipient. Carla made a carrot cake in the shape of bunny for the snack. Our May event will include watercoloring.
Florence Crittenton School
Miles for Moms Run/Walk is Saturday, May 9, from 8 to 11 a.m., at Sloan’s Lake Park. Team Zonta will be running/walking alongside hundreds of supporters who believe in celebrating allmothers, especially teen mothers. Mom means different things to each of us, but to the mothers whose lives are touched by the work of Florence Crittenton Services, it means education, preparation and empowerment. Please consider supporting the mission of Flo Crit by donating to Team Zonta and please join us as we run/walk to help teen families create Cycles of Success. For more information, contact Jean Griswold or click on this link: http://flocritco.kintera.org/faf/r.asp?t=12&i=1128507&q=6343473&faf=1&e=827193696
Graduation will be Wednesday, May 27, at Loretta Heights. Contact Jean for more information.
SafeHouse Denver
Sampling for Hope–a casual food tasting event will be on Thursday, June 4, 6:30 to 9:30 p.m., at RedLine Gallery, 2350 Arapahoe Street, Denver, $55 per person until May 5, $65 after May 5, featuring samples from Marlowe’s, Paramount Café, Govnr’s Park, LaLa’s Wine Bar & Pizzeria, Oceanaire, Denver ChopHouse, and Leaf & Crumb Bakery.
Welcome Bags: Please bring sample size items of toothpaste, tooth brushes, dental floss, lotion, shampoo, and conditioner to the meeting. One item we have always had to purchase is dental floss. If you can purchase a few to donate, it would be much appreciated.
Teacher Grants
Three teachers received grants of $500 each this year. One teacher will speak at our April meeting and two will speak at our May meeting.
Empowerment/Mariposa House
Please bring non-perishable grocery items to the meeting for Empowerment’s pantry. If you would like to know when the next event at Mariposa House is scheduled, please contact Deb.
ADVOCACY EVENTS
The National Committee on Pay Equity came up with Equal Pay Day to illustrate the gap between men and women’s wages in 1996. The day was chosen to symbolize the amount of time it takes to catch up and red symbolizes how far women are “in the red.”
For real change, we need labor statistics that everyone can agree on. The pay gaps vary depending on whether wages are calculated monthly, weekly or hourly. Calculate in the cost of childcare by single mothers and how that affects their income. Often, it doesn’t make sense to work full time after calculating the cost of childcare. Litigation rights have improved but how many women does that truly affect? The most recent Fair Pay Act acknowledged a gap in pay for government workers. If we can’t get equal pay in our own government, how will we ever affect change the private sector?
To read women’s stories of pay inequities go to http://www.aauw.org/2013/04/02/the-pay-gap-is-personal/
Over a lifetime, how much less will women earn less than men?
a. $550,000 b. $700,000 c. $1,200,000 d. $2,000,000
For the answer, go to From the Test Your Fair Pay ‘Cents’ http://www.pay-equity.org/info-quiz.html
TREASURER’S UPDATE
Ellen received a check for $330 from the King Sooper cards, making the year-to-date total of $2,221.77. Please continue to load your KS gift cards and buy gas, groceries and prescriptions with it. This is free money! No effort. Nada. We get rewarded for spending what we would spend anyway, so encourage your family and friends to keep using their King Soopers cards. See Ellen for more cards.
The Wine Tasting was big fun and we did raise some money! We don’t have the total yet since all the wine hasn’t been picked up yet, but we know we made over $2,000 on admission, the silent auction, donations and proceeds from the jewelry sales!
We sold $5,150 in raffle tickets for Excelsior Youth Center at their Gala in February! Be thinking about a major prize that we could raffle to raise money for our club. We will discuss this at the retreat this summer.
Dues are due—at the end of April, Ellen will remit dues to International, so please give her your check at our April meeting,