About Zonta
Zonta Club of Yakima Valley is a service club of professional women,
serving the greater Yakima Valley.
Zonta
International was started when a club of business and professional
women was organized in Buffalo, New York, early in 1919. These women had
realized that the classified men's clubs, such as Rotary and Kiwanis,
offered their members not only interesting contacts, but also opportunities
for service to their communities. Women in nearby cities also became interested
in the idea and when, on November 8, 1919, a meeting was held to form
a national organization, there were already nine clubs (seven in New York
and one each in Pennsylvania and Michigan) to answer the call. These clubs
became members of the Confederation of Zonta Clubs, adopted a constitution
and bylaws and elected a slate of officers.
On July 2, 1923, four years after the Confederation of Zonta was founded
in Buffalo, NY, the Seattle club was organized. This was the ninth Zonta
Club to be organized, the first in the District and the first women's
classified service club in the city. At the Convention held in Seattle,
June, 1930 (on the basis of the Toronto and Australian clubs and the foundation
laid in Europe for organization on an international plain) the official
name was changed to "Zonta International”' and became incorporated
under the laws of the State of Illinois. A sixth object was presented
for adoption: "To work for the advancement of understanding, goodwill,
and peace through a world of fellowship of executive women in business
and professions, united in the Zonta ideal of service".
The
Zonta Club of Yakima Valley was organized on November 4, 1953, marking
the 286th club to be formed in the 13 countries in Zonta International.
The Charter Banquet was held on February 20th, 1954, with the Governor
of District 8 from Seattle here to install the officers.
2009-2010
Board and Officers
President - Pam Schmid
President-elect - Deby Gunter
Vice President - Danielle Surkatty
Secretary - Shonna Stroud
Treasurer - Marilyn Hunter
Board Members - Janelle DenBeste, Jheri Ketcham, Diane Kinnally, Susan Riordan,
Deb Ward, Diane Young
Committee Chairs
Fellowship - Diane Eilmes
Finance - Marilyn Hunter
International - Pat Reynolds
Long-range Planning - Diane Eilmes
Membership/Orientation - Deb Ward
Newsletter - Diane Eilmes
Programs - Julie Grieb
Public Relations - Danielle Surkatty
Service - Danielle Surkatty
Status of Women - Susan Riordan
Yearbook - Kathy Greninger
2010 Murder Mystery Co-Chairs:
Event Chair — Kathy Greninger
Auction Chair — Diane Kinnally
History of Zonta Club of Yakima Valley
During the year after the Yakima Club was chartered, local Zontians volunteered for USA work, providing refreshments
and acting as senior hostesses. A $500 scholarship was set up to assist
a student nurse in completing her course.
1955 - The Yakima service club made its first contribution to the Amelia
Earhart Scholarship Fund and Amelia Earhart Day was celebrated at a special
luncheon with guest speaker, Gini Richardson, local member of the 99 Club
and outstanding woman pilot instructor. Members donated individually to
providing gifts for each woman patient at the local tuberculosis sanitarium.
1956 - Six members attended the Zonta Convention at Sun Valley, Idaho
with the Yakima Club acting as hostess at the luncheon on opening day.
They took Yakima Valley apples with them for the luncheon. Yakima Valley's
first president, Dorothy Alderson, became First Lady of Yakima when her
husband, Joe Alderson was elected Mayor of the city.
1957 - Funds were raised to send contributions to the Hungarian Relief
Fund through the Red Cross. This year Zontians elected to present Yakima
Valley Junior College with a fireplace. All materials for its construction
were provided by the club and, as a result, Zontians had the fun of lighting
the first fire and the honor of having a plaque mounted over the fireplace
in their name. The Student Union Building is now complete. The club is
almost four years old and it boasts 29 very active members. Each year
we feel we have gained prestige for Zonta in the community and as individuals
feel that we are indeed banded together with a common purpose.
1958 - We donated four oxygen tents to the Selah Hospital for retarded
children. We sent a letter to Yakima Rotary Club stating that our club
had reviewed the Rotary Teenage Code and found it generally acceptable
and a reasonable guide for both parents and teenagers. In November we
provided a complete Thanksgiving dinner for a family with 10 children.
The club sent 10 subscriptions to the Reader's Digest in Arabic overseas
in keeping the Zonta theme "Zonta opens the door to World Friendship."
1959 - We saw the beginning of the Yakima Valley Zonta Club's dental
education work in the schools. The club furnished pamphlets on dental
health to high school students interested in dentistry and helped in the
dental examination of first grade pupils in all Yakima schools.
1960 - The District 8 Conference was held in Yakima from October 21 to
23. The club donated to Father Pire's Anne Frank Village in Germany.
1961
- Donations were made to the school bands of Eisenhower and Davis High
Schools to assist in purchasing new uniforms - the donations to Eisenhower
were made in time to enable the band to appear in new uniforms in Washington,
D.C. at President Kennedy's Inauguration Parade. The club donated $160
to provide toothbrushes to all first grade children in Yakima and Reader's
Digest subscriptions were sent to seven foreign countries.
1962 - The college entrance exam fee at Yakima Community College was
paid for a young woman in need. $550 was given to two nursing students
to help with their education.
1963 - A share of stock in the Yakima City Bus Lines was purchased for
$100 as a gesture of support for the community effort to save bus service
for Yakima. A set of encyclopedias was donated to a school for the partially
sighted.
1964 - On May 8th, our club, in conjunction with the Chamber of Commerce,
commemorating the 75th Anniversary of Washington's statehood, honored
48 women who are residents of Yakima and who have achieved recognition
of a state, regional, national and international level, at what was called
a Jubilee Banquet at the Chinook Hotel. The banquet was a huge success
with 192 tickets sold. Highlighting the event was the speech by J. Maria
Pierce, Zonta's International President.
1965 - A Zonta plaque found a home when we installed a drinking fountain
at Franklin Park, a relatively new city park.
1966 - Our most outstanding event this year was our club's launching
a drive to obtain funds to purchase a new airplane for the Civil Air Patrol;
this was our main project for the year. At a no-host breakfast we presented
C.A.P. with a check for $500 to launch the drive.
1967 - The Civil Air Patrol headquarters was given a facelift; it was
painted inside and out by volunteers and Zonta purchased the necessary
paint and helped with the cleaning, window washing, etc. We also obtained
donations of 600 gallons of fuel oil for the C.A.P. Vietnam servicemen
who were remembered with gift packages during the Christmas season.
1968 - We donated $100 to the newly founded Sundown M Ranch. We also
had given $100 to the Yakima Kidney Fund. We continued to support the
C.A.P.
1969 - Our club joined with Altrusa and Soroptimist in the purchase of
a film to help local law enforcement authorities in their battle against
crime. We gave $700 to our major project of assisting the C.A.P.
1969
- The Yakima club began working with a local justice of the peace, an
area probation officer, in organizing a Volunteer Probation Service. Several
members went to Walla Walla for the regional celebration of Zonta International's
50th Anniversary.
1970 - We have continued our sponsorship of the C.A.P. and the Volunteer
Probation Service. Governor Evans sent his personal representative to
present us with a special award for our part in the Volunteer Probation
Service.
1971 - The Volunteer Probation Service is now state funded so we contributed
by members putting in many hours of personal service doing clerical work.
1972 - Our major service project continues to be the Civil Air Patrol
Squadron; we not only support them financially, but also attend some of
the meetings and donate service hours. We gave camperships to the YWCA,
Camp Fire Girls, and Girl Scouts. We made a contribution to the Yakima
Speech and Hearing. We also continued to support the Amelia Earhart Fellowship
Fund.
1973 - Our club joined the Altrusa and Soroptimist clubs in sponsoring
a State Driving Seminar. We also gave a donation to the Red Cross Flood
Relief to give to the Civil Air Patrol to be used to repair the flood
damage done to their building.
1974 - We had a most successful Christmas Fashion Show as one of our
money raising projects to help us in our service projects, the Civil Air
Patrol, our camperships, as well as our annual contributions to Zonta
International.
1975 - The Civil Air Patrol is starting a building program and we are
assisting the fundraising drive by giving additional funds as well as
service hours. The club members were divided into five groups with each
group expected to raise at least $100. One group had a country fair and
netted $900!
1980 - We had 24 new members joining Zonta this year with a result of
65 members. A very successful year was had with our annual Reno Nite and
our annual Zonta Run (a 10 km run) with 250 participants. Twenty backboards
(wooden stretchers) were made by members in one of our member's shop and
presented to the Yakima County Emergency Services for use in the County's
emergency rescue effort. As a result of one of the club's largest fundraising
projects for several years, a van was presented to Yakima Valley Transportation
Co. for the elderly and developmentally disabled. Our most successful
fundraiser, "Reno Nite" was held by members, raising around
$5,000.
1981
- This year we supported Zonta International projects with funds totaling
$1,200. We also continued to support our local Civil Air Patrol, a service
project of our local Zonta club since we were chartered. We pledged $1,000
to the building fund for the local Red Cross. We also started a yearly
pledge of all proceeds from our annual Christmas raffle to go towards
the purchase of a dog for the K-9 Corps of the local Sheriff Dept. This
year our proceeds totaled $1,600. A total of $6,200 was raised for service
projects.
1982 - We gave over $6,600 to service projects. The Service Committee
embarked on a new and exciting project for the local Family Crisis Center.
The club was divided into four groups, each designated to raise as much
money as possible. The losers treated the winners to a wine tasting tour,
visiting four wineries, a card party at the Century Club, a kidnap breakfast,
and a kidnap luncheon (which included the sheriff's paddy wagon, handcuffs,
and Judge Munson handing out the fines). We received a lot of publicity
from these efforts) were the projects. Over $5,000 was raised, with $1,000
committed this year and the remainder to be given to the Crisis Center
in the future. Over $11,000 was raised during the year. Our club felt
honored that the first woman District Court Judge elected in Yakima County,
Heather Van Nuys, is an active Zontian. Our club selected a special service
project this year, the formation of a Zonta club in the Tri-Cities. Fran
Sweesy, District 8 Director, spearheaded this project. Fran and her committee
have spent many long hours organizing this club. Our membership totaled
77 at year's end.
Past Presidents
| Dorothy Alderson |
1954-1955* |
| Barbara J. Nance |
1955-1956* |
| Goldie Snider |
1956-1957 |
| Viola Waters |
1957-1958* |
| Helen Jewett |
1958-1959* |
| Evelyn Sears |
1959-1960* |
| Catherine Bensacon |
1960-1961* |
| Juanita Schaub |
1961-1962* |
| Esther Ellinsberg |
1962-1963* |
| Mary Campbell |
1063-1964* |
| Marjorie Anderson |
1964-1965* |
| Laura Smith |
1965-1966* |
| Peg Samson |
1966-1967* |
| Ida Holte |
1967-1968* |
| Elsie Nickerson |
1968-1969 |
| Cassy Valdez |
1969-1970 |
| Harriet Whitman |
1970-1971* |
| Audrey Tegan |
1971-1973* |
| Dorothy Arvason |
1973-1975* |
| Velma Kurbitz |
1975-1977* |
| Delores Heinen |
1977-1978 |
| Fran Sweesy |
1978-1979+ |
| Dorothy Atkinson |
1979-1980 |
| Candy Lee |
1980-1981 |
| Joyce Jones |
1981-1982 |
| Jeanette Witham |
1982-1983 |
| Charline Rabung |
1983-1984 |
| Beverly Goodman |
1984-1985 |
| Jean Nelson |
1985-1986 |
| Rose Marie Ulmer |
1986-1987 |
| Esther Schrader |
1987-1988 |
| Dianne Young |
1988-1989+ |
| Jean Gregg |
1989-1990 |
| Mary Lou Snyder |
1990-1991 |
| Vickie Tewalt |
1991-1992 |
| Judy Pittman |
1992-1993 |
| Yvonne Raver |
1993-1994 |
| Pam Schmid |
1994-1995+ |
| Nona Schulz |
1995-1996 |
| Lela Delay |
1996-1997 |
| Nancy Rogers |
1997-1998 |
| Sister Georgette Bayless |
1998-1999 |
| Dorothy Bristow |
1999-2000 |
| Deby Gunter |
2000-2001+ |
| Candi Broadfoot |
2001-2002+ |
| Criss Bardill |
2002-2003+ |
| Lesli Shields |
2003-2004 |
| Mary Lou Snyder |
2004-2005+ |
| Deb Ward |
2005-2006+ |
| Joyce Carr |
2006-2007+ |
| Lyn Hartman |
2007-2009 |
* Deceased +
Active
|