Celebrate With Us

President's Message

Greetings!

Happy Spring, a season characterized by warmer weather, blooming flowers, and a renewed sense of growth. It's a time for new beginnings, renewal and rebirth.

I look forward to seeing you at the May 13 meeting at the Camp Hill Giant Food Store Community Room (upstairs) at 5:30 pm. Come for a short social time with your colleagues, our guests and welcome our new member. The meeting will begin at 6:00 pm with a light meal. We will hold an Installation of Officers, present our Service Grants to Mission Central and Gather the Spirit for Justice and our gift to our biennium partner Greenlight Operation. See the Service Committee update for an opportunity to donate items at the May meeting.

Please notify Deb Crum by noon, Monday, May 11 if you do not plan to attend or will have a guest joining you.

Thanks to the Advocacy Committee for planning a social media campaign for National Crime Victims' Rights week from April 19-25. I hope you enjoyed reading the statements from your legislators and partner organizations and felt a sense of shared commitment.

Thank you to all of the members - volunteers and players - who made the BINGO event on Saturday, April 18 fun and successful. The net proceeds helped to make the club giving impressive this year. Special thanks to Deb Crum for chairing the fundraising event.

In closing, this is my final President's Message, and it has been wonderful serving as the President of the Zonta Club of Harrisburg-Hershey. I am very proud of the many accomplishments during these two years. I thank the Committee Chairs for leading the committees as I had hoped to build a stronger organization to sustain the Club Leadership for the future. With so many things yet to accomplish, let’s continue to Build a Better World for Women and Girls together!

Kathy Gates, President

May 13, 2026 Meeting - Giant Store, 3301 Trindle Road, Camp Hill

Join us as we share our appreciation and our fundraising money with three deserving local organizations. Greenlight Operation is our Biennial Partner for 2024-2026; Gather the Spirit for Justice and Mission Central are our 2025-2026 Service Grant recipients.

We're proud of them and of our support which allows them to continue the great work on behalf of women and girls! We'll have representatives from each of the agencies with us to help build our connections.

We are also providing a portion of our fundraising monies to Zonta International in support of their International Service Projects and education programs. More information is available about the ZI projects later in this newsletter.

Strengthening Community in Allison Hill is not done in isolation. We work alongside local businesses, faith-based and social organizations, social service agencies, and residents from Allison Hill and the greater Harrisburg area.

Learn more at Gather the Spirit for Justice

We are a group of everyday people on a mission to strategically combat human trafficking and serve sex trafficked women through a continuum of restorative care. We invite you to join our efforts to end human trafficking and restore survivors. Together, we are making a difference.

Learn more at Greenlight Operation

Through partnerships with more than 200 organizations, we supply essential resources to those providing humanitarian aid and critical care. From flood recovery efforts to school supply distributions, or medical equipment, we stand ready to respond – wherever and whenever we’re needed.

Learn more at Mission Central

At our April membership meeting, Heather provided an introduction to the Pennsylvania Women’s Health Caucus. It is a bipartisan, bicameral caucus of legislators partnering with advocacy groups to advance legislation and policies that promote equity and protect the health and wellbeing of women, gender expansive people, and families in Pennsylvania.

In June, we will be part of the The Capitol All-Stars Game. This tradition began in 2013 as a way to bring state lawmakers together to fight hunger in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

This bipartisan, bicameral, slow pitch softball game is played by two teams, the Yinz and the Youse, made up of state Representatives and Senators, Republicans and Democrats, and men and women. Further info on the game will be provided as the date and details are available.

In support of Crime Victims' Rights Week, our Club offered a week-long series of Facebook posts from local legislators and agency leaders. They spoke to the importance of ensuring victims are safe, supported and heard.

You can read the series on our Facebook page.

Members Amy, Kym, Karen and Kathy at the Crime Victims' Rights Rally held at the Harrisburg Capitol. The theme was Listen. Act. Advocate because everybody knows somebody.

Membership Update

We installed Ruth Woodlen as a new member at the April membership meeting. We offer a sincere welcome to her!!

We are conducting an orientation meeting on Saturday, May 9 at the home of Kathy Gates, 9:00 am to noon. Everyone is welcome, but you must RSVP since space is limited.

Thank you to everyone who renewed their membership. We start the 2026-2027 year with 21 members.

There were 20 members at the closed April meeting.

May Birthdays:

Claudia Barry, Gloria Cudicio-Hayden

Zonta Anniversaries:

Marge Gingrich - May 8, 2025; Deb Crum - May 31, 2006

Human Trafficking Simulation

YWCA Carlisle & Cumberland County simulation raises awareness on human trafficking.

Alice and Marge participated in the simulation and panel discussion. The simulation presents scenarios, allowing the participant to make choices, as the sex trafficked person might experience. One of us made it to a long-term restoration home, the other to the morgue. A brief but eye-opening exercise.

Cumberland County has an impressive Human Trafficking Coalition and their collaboration was evident throughout the program.

You can learn more with this video coverage by Fox43 news

Service Committee Update

In April, a group visited with Beverly Treat and Barb Guarente at Bethesda Mission Women's Shelter. What a meaningful experience as we toured their home, learned about their programs and commitment to their clients. They can house 50 women and have 6 family rooms to accommodate women and children.

A fun fact was learning of the many local organizations they also support! For example, Bethesda Mission provides excellent medical and dental care for its residents and takes referrals from other agencies in the Harrisburg area treating uninsured and under-insured homeless and low-income persons. Their food bank partners with over 200 churches and other agencies in counties surrounding Harrisburg.

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In support of their immediate needs at the women's shelter, the Service Committee asks you to consider donating laundry baskets, plastic hangers with notches and period products (no tampons); bring them to our May meeting where you'll meet some of the Bethesda Mission team.

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Our visit with Downtown Daily Bread will be scheduled during May.

These on-site meetings help us build a direct understanding of the programs, services, opportunities and challenges. In advance, we thank them for making time for us to visit!

We have a workday scheduled at Mission Central. If you're available to join us on Thursday, May 21, between 9:00 am and noon, please contact Suzanne.

Greenlight Operation is looking for volunteers to support their 6th annual Run 4 Restoration on Saturday, May 2 at City Island. You can participle as a runner, walker, member of the set up/take down crew and cheerleader along the course (nice and flat!!), Please contact Alice for additional information or go to https://www.greenlightoperation.org/events/

B-I-N-G-O seems to make people happy!!

Fundraising Update

This was an amazing year for the club and our Foundation FUNdraising efforts!

A HUGE thank you to members, former members, family and friends who shared their time, talent and treasure in support of our various Fundraisers throughout the year.

We look forward to seeing all members at our May meeting as we celebrate the year and “Give away the Dollars”!

A donation in honor of birthdays, anniversaries or other special events is a great way to support the Foundation throughout the year.

Donations to the Zonta Club of Harrisburg-Hershey Foundation may be sent anytime to;

Zonta Club of Harrisburg-Hershey Foundation

P.O. Box 590 ~ Hummelstown, PA 17036

Thank you for helping to build a better world for women and girls!

Our Programs

Zonta is making a difference for women and girls across the globe through international projects and educational awards funded by the Zonta Foundation for Women and through the thousands of service and advocacy initiatives undertaken by Zonta clubs and members in the communities in which they live and work.

Zonta Club of Harrisburg-Hershey Calendar