Membership

We were very happy to have Virginia Dickinson (Ginni) attend our October meeting. It was a great meeting to have a guest. Our speaker on elder abuse was awesome. Ginni found us in the “Your HUB” section of the Denver Post. If you would like an invitation to attend a general meeting to go out to a friend, co-worker or family member, please let us know. We would be happy to e-mail information about Zonta International and Zonta Club of Denver II.

Jan Hoyt/Carol Johnson
Membership Co-Chairs

Service Activities

SafeHouse Denver

The SafeHouse Gala was a great success! The wine basket Zonta II donated sold for $155, after starting the bidding at $75. It had an actual value of $109.

The holiday mailing prep will be on Monday November 4, 2014, 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. and Tuesday, November 25, 2014, 12 to 2 p.m. If you can attend one of these sessions please let Shannon Boltz at SafeHouse or JoAnn know.

Barb Anders is coordinating with SafeHouse for the Adopt a Family for the holidays.

Jessica and Brandy from SafeHouse attended the Zonta Says No event in support of our club.

Letter from Shannon Boltz
Hello Fabulous Volunteers,
I hope this finds you all well and rested. I wanted to reach out and express my deep gratitude for your help with the Hope Gala this past Saturday. You all worked so hard to make the evening a success and we could not have done it without you. I heard some wonderful feedback this year about how nice the volunteers were, and how helpful you all were. I think I speak for Valerie and Ashley when I say how much we appreciate you!

You may remember that we spoke about our goals at the beginning of the evening, and Valerie talked about how the success of the Gala helped us continue to provide safety and resources to domestic violence survivors throughout the year. Our goal walking in to the Gala was $97,225 total, with about $25,000 of that coming from the Silent Auction. Although our numbers are still preliminary, with your help during the event, we raised $110,812! We are especially pleased with the silent auction results of $30,636, which includes the Wine Wall and “Heads and Tails” revenue. These are fantastic numbers that you should all be proud of!

I hope you all enjoyed yourselves and had a bit of fun during the Hope Gala. Thank you again for volunteering and for your support of the adults, children and youth we serve. You are all amazing!

Shannon

PLEASE BRING ITEMS TO THE MEETING ON NOVEMBER 20 FOR THE SAFEHOUSE WELCOME BAGS, GROCERIES FOR EMPOWERMENT, AND BOOKS FOR THE LEARNING SOURCE.

Freedom Service Dogs

Graduation will be December 13, 12:30 p.m., at Craig Hall at DU. This is a new venue for the graduation ceremony due to 30 dogs graduating! Join us for the graduation ceremony of military veterans and all clients paired with their service dogs after months of waiting and training. We need four volunteers for the event. If you are interested, contact Barb Anders. If you want to carpool, let her know.

Here is the link to more parking information on the DU campus: https://www.parking.du.edu/visitor/default.aspx Parking is $6 for 3 hours or less or $8 for 3 hours to a full day. Visitor parking is $1.50/hour, but spots are limited. Parking on the street is limited to 1 or 2 hours close to campus, but opens up about 5-6 blocks off campus. Lot E is closest to Craig Hall, behind the gate arm (not in the hourly spots on the first floor of the garage- you will get ticketed if you park in an hourly spot). Lot E is located at the intersection of High Street and Evans Avenue, off of High Street, just north of Craig Hall (2148 S High St, Denver, CO 80208). See the DU parking map. From the parking garage, Craig Hall is a very short distance.

Teacher Grants

Beth recently emailed the teacher grant application. Please contact any qualifying teachers you know and encourage them to submit an application.

Florence Crittenton High School

Suzanne Banning attended the Zonta Says No event in support of our club.

Mariposa House

Contact Deb if you are interested in helping with the holiday party.

CWEE Awards Luncheon

On October 22, Lois and Sharon attended CWEE’s annual awards luncheon. The luncheon raised $60,000 in donations that will assist individuals to create self-sustaining lives for their families.

Highlights of speeches of CWEE’s Alumni Award Winners:

“In attending CWEE, I learned many things about employment, but more than that, CWEEshowed me the importance o another’s struggles. What an eye opener! I thought I was a failure for not providing for my family the way they deserved. I found out we as people can help each other without judgment and be successful.” -Kathleen Mojica

“I started attending CWEE in June of 2013 and it was the best thing I could have ever done. CWEE helped me gain the job skills I needed to enter back into the workforce and become employed. I received computer training, such as Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook. I learned how to create resumes, cover letters, and had opportunities to practice my interviewing skills. CWEE also helped me to build my confidence and self-esteem.” -Alicia Ramirez

“CWEE helped me gain both employment skills and learn what the business world expects of you. I also learned how to set personal goals and obtain them. All the employment skills that I had learned at CWEE really helped me. I worked at the firm for 14 years. This allowed me the opportunity to purchase my first home in 2003.” – Effie Henderson

CWEE Boutique

Lois and Sharon worked in the CWEE Boutique two Saturdays in October to get the sorting room under control! During November, another volunteer group will manage the donations and clean up, which is a nice break for us. If you are interested in working a few hours a month to benefit the single parents who attend classes at CWEE, let Lois or Sharon know.

Excelsior

On Thursday, November 6, 2014, the girls at Excelsior decorated foam turkey cutouts and wrote Thanksgiving notes to family members and staff. These girls are so creative that it is simply amazing what they create with limited items of markers, pencils, chalk and a few cutouts. Carla provided homemade mini-pumpkin pies for each of the girls and topped them off with lots of whipped cream.

Excelsior girls donated several pieces of artwork for the Zonta Says No event.

Excelsior’s Gala has been set for Friday, February 20, 2015, at the Sheraton downtown. We will once again help with their raffle during the event. Stay tuned for more information by email.

For December, Lois is helping out with our “signature event” by providing felt Christmas stockings for the girls to decorate. If you have Christmas buttons, ribbons, etc. that can be used to attached to these stockings, please bring them to the November meeting.

Central Visitation Program

Friday, November 7, 2014, CVP hosted its annual fundraiser. The community donated many items including art, jewelry, gift baskets, etc. We will report how well they did in the next newsletter. The volunteers that Zonta II supplied were simply amazing. We sold Take- A-Chance tickets to the guests, wandered through the food tables for continual clean-up, did our own bidding on items and enjoyed the fabulous food. As in all silent auctions, the hard work was at the end of the event. Pat Congleton, Carol and Gary Leffler, Jean Griswold, Ed Yoblonski and Barb Anders all volunteered for the event.

Finance

As this newsletter is being written, the Finance Committee is working so hard they don’t have time to report in!!!! We know they are busily tallying orders, making arrangements with our vendors and getting ready to set up for receiving products from our vendors on December 3. We know our members will come through with lots of orders by the November 19 deadline!  If you are available to help sort on December 3 or can help deliver on December 4, contact Carol Leffler or Ellen Fitzpatrick to get the details.

Taking Flight with Zonta

This year we are hosting the two area meetings—the Area 3 meeting which is usually held in April and the Amelia Earhart Luncheon which honors fellows that we are supporting at the University of Denver—on the same day. That’s right! You get a two-fer by attending both on one day! You should have received a Save-the-Date email from our Area Director, Ann Hodgson, for Saturday, January 24 from 10-2. We are excited to meet at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science, and hope you will all participate. The area meeting will focus on what is happening with Zonta International and within our district and area. At the luncheon we will hear from our three young women fellows and their journeys into science and technology careers. Our keynote speaker at both events will be Sharon Langenbach, who was a past AE fellow and Zonta liaison to International. It will be a fun, celebratory event. And because we are renting space at the museum, you may visit the museum exhibits for free after the meeting adjourns.