Zonta International, Z Club, Golden Z: no matter how you spell it, these clubs empower women to become leaders, explore career fields and develop a better understanding of the world around them.
  In honor of Women‘s History Month, it is only right that we focus on Zonta International and their offspring: Golden Z (university level) and Z Clubs (high school level) within the Marquette area. These clubs are generally unknown—aside from the fact that Zonta is known as the "Koeze Nuts" organization. But there is much more to these organizations than that; they are united in a common goal—to improve the status of women worldwide.
  Founded in 1919 in Buffalo, New York, Zonta takes its name from the Lakota Sioux Indian word meaning "honest and trustworthy." Zontians volunteer their time, talents and energy to local and international service projects that are designed to advance the status of women. Zontians "fund award and scholarship programs for women of exceptional ability, support self-help and development programs for women in local and global communities, determine strategies to eradicate violence against women and children and advance the status of women through action and advocacy."
  Cindy Heise, president of Zonta Club of the Marquette Area, heads the fifty-member group, which meets at the Federated Women's Clubhouse. "What we do on the international basis will help all women,"Heise explains. "This is a worthwhile cause."
  Zonta conducts a Marquette favorite fund raiser during the holiday season: Koeze Nut sales that raise up to $15,000 each year. Out of the monies collected, ten percent is given to Zonta International for international service projects, while the rest stays here for community projects and scholarships, namely a $1,000 NMU scholarship and four Z Club scholarships of $500 each to two Marquette Senior High School and two Negaunee High School students. The remaining money is given as service fund grants.
  "Different organizations in the community will write grant proposals and we give money to the different organizations depending on how much they ask for and where we think our money will do the most good," Heise says. In total, sixteen grants are given.
  The projects that are undertaken reach out to not only the Marquette area, but internationally as well.
  "Some of the service projects out there are just awesome,"says Heise. "We're working with UNICEF, trying to eliminate maternal and neo-natal tetanus in Nepal. Tetanus is still a problem in underdeveloped countries, especially Nepal."
  "When we step on a rusty nail, we just go to the hospital. In underdeveloped nations, it's hard to get to the cities so workers with inoculations loaded in backpacks get on donkeys and go to these villages to educate mothers and elders about tetanus and how to prevent it."
  It is more than stepping on a nail.
  "When a mother gives birth [in an underdeveloped nation such as Nepal] they give birth on the floor. Tetanus is spread from the dirt on the floor, it gets into the birth canal, and can be transferred through the umbilical cord. It's a deadly disease. The body begins to clench up; the mouth clenches so you can't eat, the spine stretches out, and the woman dies." According to a Zontian newsletter, "In 1998, approximately 215,000 newborns and 30,000 mothers died from tetanus in the developing world. Almost 7,000 of these cases were in Nepal." Zonta is there to help with their motto: improve the status of women worldwide. They hope to eliminate tetanus globally, through education and inoculation, by 2005.
  A new project undertaken by Zonta is "Reinventing India," a mission to prevent violence against women and children, undertaken with UNIFEM and other non-governmental organizations, along with reducing the incidence of female genital circumcision in Burkina Faso, a small country in Africa.
  Zonta not only looks to help women on a global scale but individually as well. "Last year, we gave money to a woman in Nepal,"Heise says. "We got her name through Sally Closser, a counselor at MSHS. This woman needed money to go to college. She was the oldest in her family and was supposed to get married. She wanted to go to college. We're sponsoring her so that she can go to school. We're going to be doing it again this year and until she finishes school."
  Zonta will work with young women on April 4 at Whitman Elementary School by organizing a "Career Day" for the Peninsula Girl Scouts. Female members of the community will be asked to talk about their professions, enabling the Girl Scouts to get their "Women Today" badges and to learn about the opportunities that exist for them in today's world. "We give them funds to get this career day to happen; we donate the rest of the funds to their camp," says Heise.
  Golden Z, the university-level Zonta International organization, is going strong at Northern Michigan University. Just ask Club President Courtney Boase.
  "I joined Golden Z because I got a leadership scholarship to come to NMU. Golden Z caught my eye because they are really interested in the advancement of women and children."
  Currently, there are fifteen members who "do a lot!" ranging from raking at elderly people's homes for Make a Difference Day, to Literacy Day at the mall where the Golden Z members dress up as storybook characters (Courtney is the famed big red dog Clifford). They also read to children and participate in Lighting Up the Holidays where they hand out books to children who visit with Santa. In February, members offered face painting at Kaleidoscope, a children's event at the Superior Dome and were joined by Zonta and Z Club members. Then there is Bowl for Kids Sake, the March of Dimes, Habitat for Humanity and the Adopt a Highway program.
  For their commitment to the people of not only the community, but of the world, NMU's Golden Z won second place in the Emma L. Conlon Service Award, an award open to all Golden Z and Z Clubs. "The goal of this award is to recognize those Z Clubs and Golden Z Clubs whose projects and programs best express the ideals of Zonta International and contribute to the advancement of the status of women worldwide."
  Boase admits, "I don't know what I would do with a lot of my time. There would be a real void for not helping or giving back." She credits her enthusiasm for Golden Z to the women she's worked with. "I've worked with great advisors." It is easy to understand how she is rewarded by her volunteerism. "I enjoy doing it. I never dread a meeting or doing something. I have to volunteer."
  Although these organizations focus on helping others through volunteering, according to Boase, "Golden Z differs from Zonta. We're different in a lot of ways. We try to meet Zonta's objectives, but we are more of a volunteer club. We don't focus so much on fund raisers. We focus on giving back as much as we can." Golden Z Clubs and Z Clubs do a lot more hands-on service projects than Zonta. Members of the student groups tend to have more time to volunteer and great amounts of enthusiasm and energy, suiting them well for service projects, while Zonta clubs tend to be made up of professionals whose efforts are best put forth through sharing expertise, fund-raising and financially supporting programs. Whatever their particular activities, all Zonta-related clubs exist because there are people who want to give something back.
  Both Heise and Boase agree that Zonta and Golden Z share one mind on a vital ideal. "We wouldn't be anywhere without the members of this club. People in the club are wonderful. It's hard to believe so many people are willing to donate their time," Boase says.
  Donating time is what local high school Z Clubs are all about, too. Jessica Geissler, student president of the Marquette Senior High School Z Club, says that every year their club's thirty to forty members take part in Make a Difference Day, Literacy Day, Kaleidoscope, UNICEF fund-raising, running Bingo games at the Jacobetti Home for Veterans and tutoring at elementary schools. "If there's a lull in our schedule, we look to see if there's something else we can help with,"Geissler adds. Mary Pace is the club's advisor.
  The MSHS club began in the late 1980s because local Zonta members realized the importance of involving young people in Zonta's ideals and efforts. It took a lot of hard work to get the club off the ground and then find the right mix of activities to interest and involve high school students. The club has become a very strong one that successfully attracts and keeps members. Geissler has been involved in the club since she was a freshman. Lowell and Pearl Larson's three daughters were all members and Jim and Kathleen Keplinger's daughter Greta joined the Golden Z Club at NMU after being part of the MSHS Club. As a matter of fact, the NMU Club was formed because MSHS students who graduated wanted to continue the "Z" experience at Northern. "Most of our members joined as freshmen or sophmores and stay in the club,"says Geissler. Why does she do it? "I've been doing community service forever,"she says. "I just enjoy helping people; especially little kids."
  At Negaunee High School, kids are key as well. That school's Z Club puts much of its energies into being mentors for students in the Latchkey Program at Lakeview School. "The girls love the kids and the kids love the girls," says former advisor Linda Olgren-Carlson (Lynette Pynonnen is the current advisor). The fifteen-member club started in 1997 and the girls have volunteered at the Upper Peninsula Children's Museum, as Salvation Army bell ringers, for UNICEF and Project Gift Wrap, among other things. Olgren-Carlson describes the club members as "overachievers.""They're our future leaders. They're the busiest kids in school. They're often involved in other clubs and activities as well. Mostly, they're dedicated to service and find great joy in it."
  Z Club was born from the Kiwanis "Key Club" a secondary education program, in 1948, in Burbank, California. Young women in high school were encouraged through Z Club to "explore careers and professions other than teaching, nursing and secretarial work," and to understand the motto of: Growth through Service.
  March 8th is "Rose Day"—a day honoring community members "that have made an impact (not necessarily for the status of women). We give them a yellow rose or an item bearing the image of a yellow rose accompanied by Zonta information to let them know that we would be interested in having them join Zonta,"explains Heise. "The objective is to increase the visibility of Zonta; to promote recognition of International Women's Day and issues affecting women. Rose Day also will promote support for local and international service projects, and help build a sense of unity and commitment to our mission through shared activity on this day."
  It may seem that these organizations are open only to women, but in fact, they are open to the leaders of today and tomorrow—women and men—"to build a better world today."
  In October, the Zonta Club of the Marquette Area will host the Zonta International District Conference in Marquette for Zontians from Michigan and parts of Canada.
  Heise adds, "I believe in what Zonta is trying to do. I believe in their international goals; that there is a need for it even in the Marquette community. If we improve the status of women, we also improve the status of men." And, thus, the world.

—Angela Wennerberg

For more information, visit mqtzonta.homestead.com/mqtzonta.html Thank you especially to June Schaefer for her help in putting this article together.

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