"Don't think about making women fit the world — think about making the world fit women.”

Gloria Steinem

President’s Letter

The sunlight has that golden glow as the days are getting shorter. We’ve had a summer filled with all kinds of activity with family and friends, travel and heat! But now it is time to dive in for our 2024-25 business year. The Zonta Foothills Club of Boulder County and our Zonta Foothills Foundation found plenty of time over the summer to lay an amazing foundation for the year ahead. Our Committees were planning and there is great work underway.

We will begin it all at our September business meeting where everyone will get the chance to meet with newest Zonta EducateZ Scholarship recipient, Beth Ansell. This scholarship has a special place in our Club and Foundation’s history being the first one that we not only endowed at the Community Foundation of Boulder County but also manage fully. Intended to help women and girls who are returning to their education and do not have the more traditional ways of funding their degree, this award hits our heart strings as we see our hard work truly change the life of a woman beating the odds. Thank you to our Scholarship Committee for managing this program over the summer!

The Service Committee is full steam ahead maintaining our Free Libraries and planning projects like the PJ event at our October business meeting. Our Advocacy Team is working with the Domestic Violence Response Team at our Boulder District Attorney’s office to plan for our Beth Haynes Award in October. They are also working with our Z Clubs to help them develop a “get out the vote” and advocacy projects. Our Governance and Engagement team is going to host that Zappy Hour (if the Presidential Election cooperates) and our Finance team is transitioning our accounting to the Cloud (a lot of work by Treasurer Michelle Médal and Board member Marta Lindrose). EducateZ is off and running with our Z Clubs and finally the Community Outreach Committee is updating the web site with the help of a web designer! We will share our progress as it evolves!

Finally, please plan to join us for the Governor’s Seminar on Friday, October, 4 - Saturday, October 5. This bi-annual event is lead by our District 12 Governor and clubs in the district rotate on hosting. As the host Club we do all of the location planning, registration and event coordination, which has been underway since last winter when we reserved Chautauqua. A unique venue, it promises to be a destination but it comes with its unique challenges but so much beauty. As you might guess finding accomodations that are not cost-prohibitive isn’t easy in Boulder, but we hope that we are offering enough options to allow everyone to participate in some way.

It is just awesome to see our newest members jumping in; they are all strong women who are inspiring us and the women in our community. Gloria Steinem was a trailblazer who inspired so many of us and as she says…"Don't think about making women fit the world — think about making the world fit women.” The road has never been easy and women continue to face an uphill struggle for reproductive freedoms, pay equity, education and more. But together we are making a world to fit women. Here’s to a wonderful year!

- Pam

To start off the year, this meeting will be a potluck — if you have the time please bring a dish to share with everyone… don’t worry if you can’t contribute. We’ll have 30 minutes of social time and catch up and our meeting will start right on time at 6:00 pm.

• Z Club Self Defense Class - Saturday, September 14, 12-3 pm at Way of the Crane Martial Arts 1925 55th St. Boulder, CO 80301 (info below)

• Voter Registration Rally - Saturday, October 19, from noon to 1 PM. We will join other women’s organizations from CU and other members of the Women's Collaborative of Boulder County. The rally will engage younger voters and raise awareness about Amendment 79 (Coloradans for Protexcting Reproductive Freedom) which will be on the November ballot. The Advocacy Committee will keep you posted as to the location and other details but let's spread the word. USE YOUR VOICE - VOTE!

• Women's Collaborative of Boulder County Kick-Off - Wednesday, September 25 at 12:00 noon YWCA 2222 14th Street, Boulder

• Zappy Hour, Thursday, September 26 - hosted by Kathy Isaelson. Please bring your friends! We love talking about our Club and getting others excited to join us. See invitation below.

• Beth Haynes Selection Event - October 1, 2 or 3. Final Date and location TBD. Our members are welcome to join representatives of our justice community as they read all of the inspiring nominations and select our Beth Haynes winner along with our new civilian award winners.

• District 12 Governor’s Conference - October 4, 5, 6, 2024 at beautiful Chautauqua - Zonta Foothills Club will be hosting, so SAVE THE DATE! See information below and visit our event website here.

• October Business Meeting - Thursday, October 10, 5:30-7:30 pm. PJ TIME!!!

• Beth Haynes Award Ceremony - Tuesday, October 29 2-4 pm at the Boulder Justice Center 1777 6th St, Boulder, CO.

• Community Foodshare Holiday Book Give Away - Tuesday, December 10

tables will give us a chance to hear about what other clubs are doing and share our own great work. Big thanks to our own Sara Gillepsie who lead a round table discussion about Community partnerships and the our work through partnerships.

The seminar will be followed by dinner with Guest Speaker District 12 Past Governor and ZI Board member Renee Coppock. She will share her experience traveling to Nepal to learn about ZI’s projects. The QR Code here will take you to the event web site where you can register for the event.

We still need a few volunteers for the weekend, especially for the Sunday “Experience Boulder” events. Please sign up here if you can help lead a short hike, host a few Zontians to the Pearl Street Mall or to the Dushanbe Teahouse. We can be proud of our city! SIGN UP TO HELP HERE.

electronically and your prompt response, we have now successfully distributed, reviewed and approved – with corrections – the minutes for meetings of the Board and Membership. I invite you to:

• Watch for an email from me following each membership meeting providing a link to the Minutes for review AND a Google Form requesting your Yes/No approval.

• Respond using the Google Form! The responses are then automatically recorded and SAVED for documentation of the vote, as required by law.

• Select the NO response if you notice changes, additions or corrections …. and then describe the correction in the text box provided.

• Understand that IF a simple majority of the membership has not responded via the Google Form with approval of the minutes by the date of the next meeting, we must then put it to a vote of those in attendance.

• Remember that all Business Meeting Minutes for the Club and Foundation are available for your reference on the ZFC Collaborative Hub in a folder labeled “Minutes.”

Thanks for giving me a minute!

Catherine Bailey, Secretary

Governance and Advocacy Committee

Hope you will bring your friends, neighbors, anyone who will enjoy learing more about us!

Zonta Government and Engagement Committee - Chair Nancy Rowe Colleen Farrell, Claudia Ibarra, Pam Malzbender, Amanda Elsnes, Ann Hodgson, Kathy Israelson, Catherine Médal

FUNdraising Committee

food, cook and plate the dinners, serve and then clean up. They even provide the linens, plates and cutlery! They commit alot of hours and their generosity makes this popular (and very lucrative) Zing auction item a big success.

A big thank you to Tommie Atanasoff, Kay Meyer, Nancy Rowe. Colleen Farrell, Marta Lindrose and past Club member Cathy Sattler for making it all possible.

Zonta FUNdraising Committee - Co-chairs: Marta Lindrose and Colleen Farrell

Zervice Committee

And we are going to make it fun…Plan to WEAR your pajamas, robes, and slippers to win prizes for the comfiest, the funniest and more! 

If you would like to contribute, BRING a pair of brand-new Ladies Pajamas – all sizes welcome. (Gift bags, socks and note cards will be provided.) LOCATION: Pam Malzbender’s home TIME: 5:30 dinner, 6:00 business meeting

Zonta Zervice Committee - Co-chairs: Marta Lindrose and Catherine Bailey, Tommie Atanasoff, Dixie Hollingsworth, Cheri Magin, Kim Prosser-Noonan, Joan Siebenaler, Carol Smoot

Educatez Scholarship Committee

increase this award to $5,000, bringing the scholarship into alignment with the other scholarships we are awarding this year. It is so exciting to be able to send a check to that can have a real impact because on average, the cost of tuition for a 3-credit hour course is around $3,000 plus fees. Thanks you to the members of the selection committee who unanimously chose this year’s winner...

Meet our EdcateZ Scholarship Winner– Beth Amsel!

You will meet Beth at our upcoming business meeting on Thursday, September 10. She will be joining us to say a few words and inspire us all.

awarded a “Remarkable Women” scholarship. We received an application from CU Boulder student Roz Wilson and were so impressed with her story that we knew we wanted to help her complete her degree. Roz is currently in “The Finish What You Started program. She was a student at CU from 1986-1991 and a member of the women’s basketball player under coach Ceal Berry. She couldn’t finish her degree at the time because she was a single mom with an infant and struggled with access to childcare and balancing school, work, practices, and games. She has worked for 10+ years as a driver for Via Mobility and is currently one semester away from graduation! To help her realize that goal, we will award Roz $2,500 for fall expenses.

We have also received several donations to permanently support this scholarship in the future. The “Remarkable Women” scholarship, borrows from a Zonta international campaign that bears the same name. Our Committee will be talking about how to define and implement this program in the future.

As we grow the number of scholarships that we provide, it is important to track where these funds end up! In the past year, we had one check that was cashed, but not deposited to the student’s account and sometimes there is a delay between our checks clearing the bank and reaching the students’ financial aid accounts. It is something our treasurer keeps a close eye on and spends time processing. To date checks have been mailed to CU Boulder, George Washington University, University of Denver, and CU Denver.

We can be proud of the work we are doing, and the money we are providing to help women of all ages and backgrounds achieve their education dreams. This week, our Z Club Scholarship winner Andrea Rincon visited Michelle Médal, in her CU Denver office, before they went out to lunch. It is so rewarding to see a huge smile on the face of this college freshman!

The EducateZ Scholarship Committee - Co-Chairs Nancy Rowe and Michelle Médal Margareta Bancroft, Kathy Bousquet, Jan Cheney, Dana Rae Vaughn, Kay Meyer

Zonta EducateZ Committee

Club members Claudia Ibarra and Gaby Lopez are the Club mentors and Mrs Diane Brenton returns as our advisor for the second year! Her guidance is invaluable.

Zonta EducateZ Committee - Co-Chairs Gaby Lopez & Claudia Ibarra, Pam Malzbender, Michelle Carpenter, Tommie Atanasoff, Margareta Bancroft, Dixie Hollingsworth

Advocacy Committee

Our Committee will be working with the Women’s Collaborative again this year to support Get Out the Vote, Amendment 79 (Coloradans for Protexcting Reproductive Freedom) on the ballot in November, wage equity, childcare and other activities through the season.

Our decision to support or oppose legislation and participate in community outreach is based upon our established criteria as stated in the Advocacy Committee’s Plan and approved by the Board which recommends actions that support one of the Zonta International Four Causes:

1. Advocating for Gender Equality

2. Ending Gender Based Violence

3. Ending Child Marriage

4. Expanding Access to Education

Our Committee also agreed that we would review and potentially recommend actions that positively impact women and girls in our community or that relates to topics that ZI or the Zonta USA Caucus supports.

The Advocacy Committee - Co-Chairs: Sara Gillespie & Sheila King Elizabeth Freedman, Lisa Lesniak, Kay Meyer, Ranelle Randles, Dana RaeVaughn

Community OUtreach

about 8 years ago) and “sexy”. We have a proposal in hand from Lesniak Enterprise which the board has approved, and our committee will be looking at new ideas and a restructure in the coming weeks.

Thank you to Sheila Cohen who is helping to proof read the Flash each month and to Carol Smoot who has generously volunteered to help us edit our web site.

Web site - https://www.zontafoothills.org/ Instagram - zontafoothillslubboulder Facebook - Zonta Foothills Club of Boulder County

Pantherz ZClub Social Media Instagram - bhs.zclub

PR Committee - C0-Chairs Pam Malzbender & Sheila Cohen, Joan Siebenaler, Carol Smoot

Zonta Finance Committee - Chair Pam Malzbender, Michelle Médal, Nancy Rowe, Ranelle Randles, Marta Lindrose and Colleen Farrell