Hello Zontians,
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We’re at the end of this fiscal year and with that another awesome May Social meeting show-casing our achievements throughout the year.  We thanked our community partners and sponsors, homeowners, and decorators.  We heard from our scholarship recipients, listed our community grants, and issued tenure service awards.  In my five years of service to the club, this night always ends up being one of my favorite meetings, because it sums up everything we do to further the mission of Zonta.

The Zonta Club of Midland has been invited to attend the Zonta International Foundation Recognition and Reception in Yokohama, Japan for our generous support of the Foundation during the 2016-2018 Biennium.  This is an invitation-only event and a club has to give $20,000 or more during the biennium.  I am proud to report we donated $22,000!

Our District 15 Governor, Anna Sylvester, also sent me an email stating “Kudos to Zonta Club of Midland.  News of your advocacy work on Equal Pay Day has travelled to the Eastern US – and is noticed by other Zontians!  Thank you for the work Zonta Club of Midland is doing to advocate for woman’s rights.”  She forwarded a message from Bobbee Cardillo, Zonta International Advocacy Committee, “Please send my congratulations to Zonta Club of Midland for working on this issue and doing so in conjunction with other like-minded organizations!  I’m sure the billboard got lots of notice and got their name out to the public, but this letter (to the editor May 20, 2018 Midland Daily News by Judy Donahue) is a further public recognition of their efforts. Bravo!”

I hope these recognitions make you as proud of the Zonta Club of Midland as I am.  Partnering with other organizations has helped us spread the mission of Zonta so much further.

I’d like to thank each of you for all your time, hard work, and dedication.  You exemplify the famous quote by John Heywood, “Many hands make light work.”  It’s been an honor serving as your president.

Karla
Karla L. Oldenburg, President

When you drive down Eastman Road notice the fantastic marigolds planted by members and friends!

During the May meeting the club recognized scholarship award winners, Homewalk supporters including homeowners, decorators and sponsors as well as members celebrating membership anniversaries and reflected on a great year of service.

Through the generous support of the community, sponsors, and homeowners five women were awarded scholarships of $2000 each.  Two of the winners, Audra Johnson and Arielle Buckley were able to attend the meeting and share with everyone their vision for their future and what the scholarship means to them. 

Audra, a second year scholarship winner is working toward her Masters in Public Administration at CMU with focus on non-profit organizations. She began her non-profit career at Shelterhouse where she fell in love with the non-profit world and elected to return for the advanced degree. She is currently working for the 1016 Recovery Network and her goal is to become a director of a non-profit.

A rising Junior at MSU, Arielle is pursuing a degree in neuroscience and plans to continue on for a PhD and pursue her passion for research.

The other scholarship winners are Chelsea Sauve, Brynn Rhode and Johanna Hooper. Brynn and Johanna were away at school and Chelsea was due any day with her second child. Chelsea is a teacher at MPS working on her masters at CMU.

In addition to scholarships, the club provided $12,000 in grants to area organizations for activities and projects that benefit women and girls in the Midland area. The money for scholarships and grants are all raised through Homewalk - a huge thank you to everyone who attended and supported the event.

Club President Karla Oldenburg, in one of her last official duties in that role recognized members for 5, 10, 15 and 40 years of service:

5 year
Megan Farrell 
Melinda Gall 
Karla Oldenburg
Cinthia Brooks 
Kim Walden
Jennifer Chappel 

 10 year
Maureen Acker 
Rhonda Anderson 

15 year
Julie Ratcliff 

 40 year!
Nancy Barker 

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Join Zontians and guests at the Midland Brewing Company on June 19 from 5:30 - 9:00 pm for an evening of fun!  The cost is $40 per person and we encourage you to bring guests as we can accommodate lots of people! 

We will have a buffet dinner with two entrees and all of the sides, live music, a tour of the brewery, sampling, and a cash bar.  It will be held in the Brewery's new venue. 

So see one of the the Fellowship Committee members and sign up or email Bonnie (westerveltbl@gmail.com)

Everyone loves the summer flowers along Eastman - help plant them on May 19th at 8:30 am. Please let Nan Blasy (nan.blasy@chemicalbank.com) know if you can attend. No experience necessary! Bring a hand trowel, gloves and a kneeling pad if you have one.