The Zonta Club of Midland members enjoyed our October meting last night with a special presentation by Katherine Redwine from the League of Women Voters. Katherine provided an update on the redistricting process in Michigan and the impact it will may have on future elections.
Fellowship also provided a timeline of the women's suffrage movement that members shared as part of the icebreaker and introductions.
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Last on the agenda was a chance for Lisa Miner, member and friend to everyone, to practice her pageant introduction. Though she was a little surprised, because she forgot she had requested to be able to do it, she stood up and NAILED IT! Well done Lisa, it was very moving to hear the passion that you feel for Zonta, Self Love Beauty and your desire to help improve the lives of women in so many ways. We were all so captivated that none of us took photo!

We had a great meeting last night with special guest Hannah Klaffer, current president of the Midland High Z Club. This summer Hannah attended the National Student Leadership Conference in Washington D.C. where she participated in the international diplomacy camp and she gave us an overview of her trip and her takeaways. She is going places and the club is happy to have helped support her on this trip!
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Pictured: Jennifer Chappel, Zonta Club President, Hannah Klaffer, Midland High Z Club President, and Rachelle Ferman, Zonta Club 1st VP and Hannah's proud mom!

The February social meeting featured 3 great speakers. Anna Hough creator of the group The Business of Being Beautiful, Keri Kenney owner of Alignment 8, and Sarah Weisbarth with Purpose Driven Confidence and Self Love Beauty. Each spoke of their life journey and discussed self-love and self-care. It was an inspiring evening!

Here's more info on the speakers:

Anna Hough - The Business of Being Beautiful - Facebook Group:
Here, we will embrace one another during the highs and lows of life as women. Our members have walked through divorces, break-ups, abusive relationships, addictions or addicted family members, pregnancies, infertility, deaths, suicides, losses, illnesses, success, triumphs, failures, heartbreak, poverty, new careers, old careers, and everything in between.
We are all here to offer support and advice, ranging from advice about beauty products and clothing, to motherhood and marriage. This is a safe place to talk about all of it.
Beauty comes in ALL different forms and every single facet of that will be celebrated. We’re here for YOU!

Keri Kenney - Alignment 8 Yoga and Cycle
Trauma Certified & Registered Yoga Instructor, Keri Kenney leadsYoga & Meditation with Trauma Recovery to provide a holistic, cognitive and somatic healing approach for individuals directly impacted by trauma, as well as those that live, love and work with them.  More at www.alignment8.com

Sarah Weisbarth - Live Coach at Self Love Beauty @selflovebeauty
​Self Love Beauty’s mission to invest in everyone to educate them on having confidence, self-love and feel empowered.

Thank you to Cynthia Chilcote for performing an inspiring induction ceremony welcoming the new officers and board members. Thank you Karla for leading the group through a strong year and welcome to Ashleigh Summers, who will lead us forward.

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