Service Projects that Make a Difference to People in Leelanau County

In addition to helping support Zonta International Service projects, the Zonta Club of Leelanau County has a long history of service to residents of Leelanau County and surrounding counties.

Young Women in Science Scholarship

For high school girls attending school in Leelanau County. Each spring the scholarship recipient gets to spend two days on the Inland Seas ship, including an overnight stay, to learn more about the health and welfare of the Great Lakes and the threats posed to this valuable resource of our area.

Applications are available from the school counselors.

Young Women in Public Affairs Scholarship

This scholarship is for a Leelanau County high school senior with a particular interest in public affairs.  Applications are available from the school counselors.

Career Day

Each March, eighth grade girls from schools throughout Leelanau County attend an annual Career Day sponsored by the Zonta Club of Leelanau County. In 2012 we’ll celebrate the 18th year of this important annual event. During the morning and afternoon sessions girls are able to talk with professionals from throughout the area who hold jobs in what were once thought to be non traditional fields for women. Typically Career Day focuses on occupations in math, science and technology.

Lunch is followed with a talk by a woman who plays a leadership role in her field.

Additionally presenters talk with young women about wellness, making healthy life choices and on self-esteem.

—Firefighter

—Nurse

—Construction industry

“The Zonta Career Day provides young women with the confidence that any and all careers are open to them. It shows students the importance of math and science as a vital part of their education.”

—Northport mathematics teacher Liz Lint

Alice Busby Miles for Mammograms Walk

Uninsured and underinsured women and men from Leelanau County received cancer screenings thanks to funds raised by the Zonta Club of Leelanau County during its annual Miles For Mammograms-Alice Busby Memorial Walk. The walk is named after a Northport Zontian who died in 1994 of breast cancer.

The annual walk is scheduled on the Saturday of Labor Day weekend. It offers two routes, one that goes two miles through the Village of Northport and a four and a half miles walk through Northport and into the surrounding countryside.
Each walker pays $20 to participate and is encouraged to solicit pledges. Sponsors help pay for the expenses of the walk and add to the fundraising. This walk has become a major source of funding for preventive cancer screenings for Leelanau County’s uninsured or underinsured adults.
In 2009, the first year that Zonta was completely in charge of the walk, we had 87 participants, 30 of them new to the walk, and raised nearly $6,000.
“An effort like this is crucial,” says Zonta Club President Ellen Pisor. “Research shows that an uninsured person who develops breast cancer is twice as likely to die from the disease as one who has health care coverage. And we know that the earlier a breast cancer is detected, the more treatable it’s likely to be.”

Free Health Day

A lack of insurance reimbursement or no insurance often means lower income people forgo getting vital health screenings. The result – frequently they are diagnosed with serious diseases at a later stage, when they may require more extensive treatment or are untreatable.

Each fall uninsured or underinsured Leelanau County residents are able to get lab tests, physical exams, mammograms and prostate and Pap tests through the annual Free Health Day. It’s sponsored by Zonta in cooperation with the Leelanau-Benzie Health Department and the Traverse City Health Clinic.
In addition to the health screenings there are health and wellness booths with information on site and massages are also offered. In 2008, 38 individuals received health screenings during Free Health Day.

Highway Cleanups

Living in one of the most beautiful counties in Michigan, Zontians are committed to help keep it beautiful. Twice a year members of the Zonta Club of Leelanau County turn out to help clean up trash along once of the many scenic roads that wind through the county.

—Each spring and fall Zontians can be found doing a clean up along M-22 north of Glen Arbor. Here, Zontians Gail Heinzmann and Ginny Laskey pitch in to help.

Mastectomy Comfort Pillows

Whether it’s a breast biopsy or a complete mastectomy, breast cancer survivors often experience pain in the area where they’ve had surgery. That can be particularly painful at night lying in bed or when sitting in a car with a seat belt strapped across the chest.

For years the Zonta Club of Leelanau County has been making heart-shaped comfort pillows that can be used next to the body to provide a cushion.

From August 2007 through September 2008 volunteers sewed nearly 70 mastectomy pillows. Pillows are donated to Munson Hospital’s breast care center and distributed to women who have surgery there.