Stephanie Thompson, a member of the Zonta Club of Niagara Falls, will be participating in the Zonta Says No to Violence Against Women campaign, Tuesday. Everyone is welcome to attend | ALISON LANGLEY/Niagara Falls Review
From the Niagara Falls Review:
Both the Horseshoe and American Falls will be bathed in an orange glow Tuesday night as women from both sides of the border come together to address violence against women.
“People really need to be aware of what’s going on in our communities,” said Christine Filipowich, president of the Zonta Club of Niagara Falls.
“Violence against women is not something that happens outside of our communities. These are the people we work with, the people who live in our cities. If it’s not in your life it’s easy not to see it and recognize it but it really is right beside us.”
The Zonta Club of Niagara Falls is part of Zonta International, a global organization of executives and professionals working together to empower women through service and advocacy.
The local club, along with the Zonta Clubs of St. Catharines, Fort Erie and Niagara Falls, New York will assemble at the Table Rock Welcome Centre on Tuesday to mark the Zonta Says No to Violence Against Women campaign.
The international campaign is designed to raise awareness about violence against women and girls around the world and to work toward its end.
It also coincides with the United Nations’ 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-based Violence campaign.
That campaign focuses on cultures of violence, sexism, racism and homophobia and calls for the implementation of human rights obligations as well as other global issues.
“Zonta is very alined with UN mandates and, as a club, we’ve been challenged to come up with creative and new ideas on how to promote and participate in UN initiatives so we thought ‘why not light the falls,'” said Stephanie Thompson, a member of the Niagara Falls club.
The Niagara Falls event will begin at 9:30 p.m. with a series of guest speakers – including Joanne Raymond, governor of Zonta District 4 which is comprised of 39 clubs in Ontario, New York and Pennsylvania – followed by a candlelight walk at Table Rock.
The falls will be bathed in orange at 10 p.m.
In addition to the walk, the event will include a reading by spoken word artist and singer/songwriter Vanessa McGowan. Also, Jackie LaBonte, from the Fort Erie Native Friendship Centre, will discuss the REDress Project, which draws attention to missing and murdered aboriginal women by displaying donated red dresses in public.
Everyone is welcome to attend the event and organizers expect between 50 and 100 people to participate.
The Niagara Falls club meets once a month and new members are always welcome.
Meet at Table Rock at 9:30 p.m. Tuesday for guest speakers. Participants will receive an orange “Zonta Says No” scarf. After speakers, candlelight walk at Table Rock. At 10 pm, Niagara Falls will turn orange for 15 minutes.
A panel of experts addressed an audience at a domestic violence forum the Zonta Club of Geelong Inc, Australia, hosted. The experts also took questions and provided information on services available to domestic violence victims. The event, held as part of the club’s Zonta Says NO to Violence against Women campaign and its ongoing partnership with other Geelong community organizations to support the Barwon Month of Action – Stop Men’s Violence against Women, challenged those in attendance to look at how they, as a community, can inform, engage and take action.
In recognition of the 16 Days of Activism to end gender-based violence and the Zonta Says NO to Violence against Women campaign, the Zonta Club of Cape Girardeau, Missouri, USA, received a Proclamation from Cape Girardeau’s mayor, Harry Rediger, and the city council.
Kim Gandy, President and CEO of the National Network to End Domestic Violence was the keynote speaker at Zonta Club of Dallas Advocacy Night on 28 October. Gandy spoke about legislation as well as the current status of women and trends related to violence against women. Gandy has spent decades fighting for and bringing attention to women’s rights and domestic violence. As an attorney she prosecuted violent offenders and was an instrumental force in the passing and two subsequent re-authorizations of the Violence Against Women’s Act (VAWA). She also served in a leadership capacity for 22 years at the National Organization for Women (NOW). 
12 November was a big day for the Zonta Foothills Club of Boulder County, Colorado, USA, as they participated in two events for the Zonta Says NO to Violence against Women campaign. First, the club hosted two inspirational speakers, Kathy Robertson, founder of Abby’s Voice and Janine D’Anniballe, Director at Mental Health Partners and former Executive Director for Moving to End Sexual Assault (MESA).
Next, the club joined members of its Boulder High School Pantherz Z Club, along with MESA, University of Colorado (CU) Boulder students and CU-Boulder Women & Gender Studies, as they organized over 100 marchers on the steps at the University Memorial Center on the university’s campus. The marchers took to the streets with signs and chants to spread the message to the community that “No means no.”
Join us in saying NO 