The No More Empty Shoes Art Show and Reception featured art created by domestic violence survivors to raise awareness of gender-based violence and the Zonta Says NO to Violence against Women campaign. The event, hosted by the Zonta Club of Billings, Montana, USA, took place Tuesday, 8 December, and featured speakers, including some of the show’s artists.
The Zonta Club of Longview, Texas, USA, put on a Gifts of Giving fundraiser on Saturday, 5 December, to benefit victims of abuse and sex trafficking. The event, held at a local high school, is part of the club’s Zonta Says NO to Violence against Women campaign.
The club asked community members to donate items such as restaurant gift cards, clothes, bedding, hygiene items, over-the-counter medicines and more. The donations went to Refuge of Light, For the Silent, Women’s Center of East Texas and Rahab’s Retreat.
Longview residents volunteered at the fundraiser, along with members from the Zonta Club of Longview and Longview High School Z Club.
As part of its Zonta Says NO to Violence against Women and the 16 Days of Activism campaign, the Zonta Club of Fort Smith, Arkansas, USA, held a self-defense workshop during its club meeting on Monday, 7 December. Self-defense instructor Elton Hawkins showed the 35 people in attendance how to break a hold, how to back up an attacker, how to fend off an attacker with objects you have, and more.
On 2 December, the Zonta Club of Bangkok I, brought their Zonta Says NO to Violence against Women campaign to the a local youth center.
The Zonta Club of Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia organized an autoparade through the central roads of their city on 1 December to bring the Zonta Says NO to Violence against Women campaign to their streets.
The Zonta Club of North Sydney Breakfast Inc recently presented to 1,200 girls at Burwood High School as part of its Zonta Says NO to Violence against Women campaign. After the assembly, 10 members facilitated workshops with 250 Year 11 students. It kicked off with a mini movie about violence against women. During the workshop students learned how they can help their school end gender-based violence. Zontians learned from the experience, and the school plans to host workshops again next year. “We are happy to share our learnings and experience with other clubs that may want to approach schools in their area,” says Zonta Club of North Sydney Breakfast Inc President Linda Bisnette.
On Saturday, 5 December, the 50 women in the Fairview High School basketball program in Boulder, Colorado, USA, let their school and community know that they stood with the Zonta Foothills Club of Boulder County and Zonta Says NO to Violence Against Women.
The club introduced the young women to Zonta International and Zonta Says NO to Voilence against Women, and then they created approximately 20 Silent Witness silhouettes, posters and statistic boards to post around the school. These powerful messages will be seen by hundreds of athletes, students and families over the coming weeks, as well as participants at next week’s Fairview Festival tournament, which hosts boys’ and girls’ basketball teams from all over the state.
The club thanks Varsity Head Coach and Program Director Rod Beauchamp and his staff for their support of their project and for giving them the attention of teams and his fans.
The Zonta Club of Ipswich Inc, Australia, is using “orange ladies” to spread awareness of violence against women throughout its community. The 16 cutouts of orange women will appear in various spots for the Zonta Says NO to Violence against Women campaign over the 16 Days of Activism, 25 November-10 December.
The Zonta Club of South Puget Sound, Washington state, USA, is spreading the Zonta Says NO to Violence against Women message through The Clothesline Project. The CLP was started in 1990 “to address the issue of violence against women. It is a vehicle for women affected by violence to express their emotions by decorating a shirt. They then hang the shirt on a clothesline to be viewed by others as testimony to the problem of violence against women.”
The Zonta club also has a Zonta Says No to Violence against Women campaign advertisement on the back of four city buses in the Olympia area. The ads will be displayed for four weeks.
The Zonta Club of Auburn and its Z Club met at Auburn’s City Hall, on the 28th of November, and began a demonstration with a walk with a Zonta Says NO to Violence Against Women banner to the Loop Rd. where the club members stopped and stood in a line to show their support of the 16 Days of Activism campaign. The concept of stopping traffic for 16 minutes was in direct response to the stop violence 16 day campaign. Christine Alexander, member of the Zonta Club of Auburn, created a video of a portion of the demonstration set to music with visuals of women and young girls who have been victims.
The club had a live blogger on the walk who pushed the demonstration out as it was happening, and the club had direct feedback. The club then put the video on its Facebook page and people are sharing it and commenting. The club found it very powerful to share this message and moment with the Z club members who walked beside them and got to see what Zonta works toward worldwide.
Watch the video: https://www.facebook.com/christine.remaleyalexander/videos/10207285738554080/.
Join us in saying NO 