provided to The Santiva Chronicle
Every January, the Zonta Club of Sanibel-Captiva, through its foundation, awards grants to local non-profits whose missions mirror Zonta’s own: empowering women and girls. Grants are funded from proceeds from Zonta’s annual home tour, A Peek at the Unique. Although the tour was cancelled in 2020 due to the coronavirus, the generosity of many businesses and individuals allowed local grants totaling $82,500 to be awarded to 15 Lee County programs, including two on Sanibel.
Requests totaled over $165,715, about twice the funds available. The 15 organizations had all adapted and survived in spite of difficulties, helping women achieve a sense of safety, success and self-worth. Projects to be funded range from education to health and safety issues, and from economic self-sufficiency to home ownership to the job search.
For this year, Zonta will soon announce “Peek Repurposed,” a unique event planned within COVID-19 guidelines. More details will follow.
In a spirit of celebration, the Zonta-hosted Zoom meeting on Jan. 20 gave each representative a few onscreen minutes to describe the organization and its goals. Local grants were awarded to: Abuse Counseling & Treatment (ACT); Angel Wings (shelter for homeless women without family); Children’s Network of Southwest Florida; Community Housing & Resources (CHR); Dr. Piper Center for Social Services; Dress for Success Fort Myers; Earn to Learn Florida; F.I.S.H. of Sanibel-Captiva; Goodwill Industries of Southwest Florida; Habitat for Humanity Lee County Women Build; Healthy Start Coalition of Southwest Florida; Organizacion Internacional de Latinos en el Exterior SWFL (OILE); Pace Center for Girls Lee County; Partners for Breast Cancer Care; and SalusCare.
Visit www.ZontaSanCap.org, follow Zonta Sanibel-Captiva on Facebook and “like” Zonta (@zontasancap) on Instagram.
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