Greetings Sister Zontians,

The winter weather certainly has been raising havoc with us.  I’m told that the February meeting is the first one in the club’s history that had to be canceled due to bad weather.  Let’s hope that the March meeting takes place as planned.
One of the items that was on the February agenda was a review of the revised procedures for bringing a new member into the club.  Those procedures are included in this newsletter and include inviting a prospective member to attend at least two meetings.  It’s important that a prospective member gets to experience the dynamics of a Zonta meeting and learn about some of the projects and activities in which the club is involved.   Also, per the 2014 Orlando Convention, membership is now open to men.  It will be interesting to see how that plays out over time.  I’ve met some male members of various Zonta clubs in the past.  They added a different perspective to the clubs that proved to be quite valuable.

Another item of interest that we were going to talk about is inviting Katherine Mary Kraver to be the guest speaker at our June meeting.  Katherine is an elementary school teacher and author who was featured in an article in the Springfield Republican a month or so ago.  She has traveled extensively and her first book, “It Was Just A House,” is about a young girl who is a refugee in Jordan.  Mary Ann Rubis suggested that we invite her and take advantage of her appearance to use the meeting as a member recruitment night.  The Membership Committee is looking for help to make this happen—please speak to Lisa Sedelow.

The Soldier On Program has a new contact person.  Her name is Sara Scoco and her email address is  Sara-Scoco@wesoldieron.org.

For our March meeting, Tina Guinasso will be speaking about Advocacy.  She’ll provide us with information about what advocacy is and how we can become advocates for women who need Zonta’s  help and support.  Please try to attend this meeting as I’m certain you will find it enlightening.

Our March meeting is scheduled for March 9th.  Your attendance is assumed unless you contact me beforehand.  If you know you will not be able to attend, please either email me at kmgoold@aol.com or call me at 413 783-4376 by noon, the Friday before the meeting.  That is my cutoff time for notifying Ludlow Country Club.  Thank you for your cooperation.  I look forward to seeing everyone in March.

Kristin M. Goold
Co-President