Zonta Club of Ottawa, Canada Members,
Happy ‘Unofficial’ 95th Anniversary
First luncheon meeting at the Chateau Laurier on May 15, 1929!!
We celebrated our ‘Unofficial’ 95th Anniversary, with High Tea at the Chateau Laurier on May 28, 2024
Read an excerpt below that I've copy/pasted from: Empowering Women: Zonta Club of Ottawa, Canada 1929 - 2019 Written by: Valerie Knowles (Talented Author/Writer & Member since Oct. 1, 1980)
CHAPTER ONE
HOW IT ALL BEGAN
The Zonta Club of Ottawa traces its formal launching to the spring of 1929, a time when optimism reigned supreme in Canada. In those buoyant, carefree days before the onset of the Great Depression, Ottawa had a population of over 165,000 and a skyline dominated by the impressive peace tower. Striking an exuberant note so typical of the time, the city directory boasted “Everything that makes life worthwhile is to be found in Ottawa.” Notwithstanding such hyperbole, the city was then a shabby place with drab downtown streets and slums crisscrossed by railway lines. It was a national capital, where, day in and day out, the screeching of numerous lumber mills filled the air, and the stench of Hull’s E.B. Eddy pulp and paper factory assailed one’s nostrils. It would take the Second World War, post-war reconstruction, and the eclipse of Ottawa’s wood products industry to confirm the city as a government town and an even longer time for it to take on the air of a world capital worthy of the name.
But all this would have been far from the minds of the twelve Zontians who assembled for their “opening meeting,” as it has been described, at the venerable Chateau Laurier on May 15, 1929. According to the now defunct Ottawa Evening Journal, the event took the form of a “delightful” luncheon featuring tables “prettily” adorned with Zonta International’s official flower, the yellow rose. A gift from the Zonta Club of Hamilton, the roses not only linked the infant club with its parent, they also symbolized the heady optimism surrounding this occasion, for which the organizers had chosen a prominent male speaker. He was Karl Conger, past president of the Rotary Club of Ottawa, which had been partly responsible for the founding of Zonta Ottawa.
In fact, the impetus for the club’s founding came from one of Rotary’s leading members, John J. Allen, later mayor of Ottawa, who was a champion of men’s and women’s service organizations. In December 1928, Allen, then president of the Ottawa Welfare Bureau, approached Thelma Williams, the Bureau’s executive secretary, about the advisability of establishing a branch of Zonta International in the nation’s capital. As Allen saw it, such a branch would be a sister club to the local Rotary club, whose selling points he extolled at length. The dedicated Rotarian spoke so enthusiastically about the work and comradeship of Rotary that the social worker immediately agreed to meet some Buffalo Zontians.
**there is lots more to read and learn about our club through our first 90 years.
Zonta Club of Ottawa
‘Video History’ Part 1…
Zonta Club of Ottawa
Happy 91st Anniversary
It’s time to celebrate February 1st as the 91st anniversary of the chartering of our Club.
If we look back, we see a group of women who identified a need in the community and came up with a solution. These pilot projects went on to be funded by government – municipal or provincial:
– the After Four project providing young children a safe place to go after school and before a parent would be at home;
– Zonta House, a retirement residence for those single women who came to Ottawa to replace the men who had enlisted and who had limited means;
– Zonta Centre for Young Single Parents, a drop-in Program for high risk young parents, which was one of the five agencies that formed the Single Parent Network.
They assisted when Interval House and Nelson House ( second stage housing) were established; they worked with an Adult Literacy agency as volunteer tutors; they held meetings with various agencies to raise awareness of issues such as human trafficking; provided social interaction with immigrants who could not find work in their profession; and the list could go on.
Things were different in those earlier days – to be a Zontian one had to work full time, when one retired with less than five years, one’s membership was rescinded, there were two meetings a month which one was expected to attend, and communication was by “snail” mail – that wonderful invention called email was years in the future.
And, there was THAT FUNDRAISER – when an additional matinee was added to Peter Ustinov’s performance at the NAC with net net funds coming to the Club.
We have a wonderful opportunity now to get back to being the leader in the community. If there is an advantage of the pandemic it is that virtual meetings can be held with attendees being anywhere in the world. The event held with Dr. Koski was a good example with Zontians (and maybe others) from coast to coast and elsewhere attending. Let’s get back to being community leaders and not show hesitancy, such as in setting March 8th for an International Women’s Day event in case another organization has plans.
Zonta is a wonderful organization for forming lasting friendships. Get out to beyond Ottawa’s borders and meet Zontians from the whole world. It is so easy now to attend virtual District or International meetings; no longer does it involve travel or lodging costs.
Although there have been many “memorable” trips in the past and many a tale to tell!
This photo is of members who attended the 90th celebration on February 1st, 2020. One of the last in-person meetings. Let’s hope it’s not too much longer before we can have more of those.
Zonta is about empowering women – let’s make sure our contribution does just that.
Yours in Zonta
Lynda
On May 15, 2019 Zonta Club of Ottawa, Canada Members Celebrated our 90th Anniversary at the Chateau Laurier with High Tea.
Our 88th Year of serving the Ottawa Community and Zonta International!
On Wednesday, May 28, 2014, the Zonta Club of Ottawa began celebrating our eighty-fifth anniversary. Imagine, for eighty-five years a group of like-minded women, all decision makers in their respective careers, have been working to improve the status of women, in step with Zonta members in sixty-three other countries. Today, 2016 – we are in our 88th year!
The first seventy years of our history were captured in a 70-page published book. Through the Chateau Door, a History of the Zonta Club of Ottawa, 1929-1989, written by Valerie Knowles, a Canadian writer. The history as well as club records reveal a busy and productive women’s service club.
Today, we look back with pride on the remarkable contributions the club has made to the Ottawa community as well as to Zonta International over its eight-five years.