The newly formed Zonta Club of Cape Coral is part of an international organization that has been active since 1919. Zonta International is a leading global organization of professionals empowering women worldwide through service and advocacy and envisions a world in which women’s rights are recognized as human rights and every woman is able to achieve her full potential. The active Zonta clubs across Southwest Florida realized that Cape Coral was an area that was not served by Zonta.

The month following the official chartering of the club in February, 2017, Zonta Club of Cape Coral rolled out their “Donation Box Project”. At specific locations throughout Cape Coral boxes are available for residents to drop off much needed supplies for women and girls in crisis in our city through the local organizations that provide support. Zonta is showcasing a Cape Coral organization each month that is a support system for women and girls to try to provide supplies that those organizations desperately need as many leave their homes with the clothes on their back.

Recent months have supported ACT (Cape Coral is ACT’s largest service area at this time in all of Lee County), Cape Caring Center, Lifeline Family Center.

September the organization showcased:

Lifeline Family Center

239-242-7238?; lifeline4moms2b@lifelinefamily.org

907 SE 5th Avenue?, Cape Coral, FL 33990

Lifeline Family Center, Inc. is a home dedicated to saving the unborn, and providing young women in unplanned pregnancies with a comprehensive educational program in a safe, secure home. The goal is to enable them to redirect their lives and become self-supporting within two years after the birth of their children. Lifeline’s policy is that they care as much about the mother as we do the child and their program addresses the needs of both by offering a 2 year commitment in providing a home, scholarship opportunities, and child care while she pursues education for a career. This allows her to become self-supporting and the child to get a solid start in a safe environment.

Lifeline Family Center is dedicated to maintaining the current residence for 12 young women and 24 children, and in future, offering transitionary housing to serve as a pattern for other maternity homes in other locations and provides its’ services without the assistance of government agencies.

Items desperately needed are anything from prenatal to birth to post baby. Items like prenatals, baby formula, diapers, toiletries, clothes and nursing bras to mention a few. Do you know of someone who has had a baby shower and received duplicates? There is a young mother who won’t have a baby shower who would love to have something special.

For October’s boxes, we are getting into the time of year where ACT desperately needs items from the community. ACT is the Abuse, Counseling and Treatment Center and provides havens for women and girls escaping abusive environments along with counseling and help getting back on their feet. Soap, shampoo, toiletries (remember those shampoos and soap from hotels that get thrown into a drawer unused and forgotten?), underwear, any general personal care item (deodorant), underwear, socks, bras, etc. These women are often evacuating in the middle of the night with their children with only the clothes on their back.

Although Zonta has specific months that they asking for specific items, if you have any items that are unused that would make the life of a woman or young girl easier, go ahead and put it in the box Zonta will get it to the right organization.

For more information on Zonta Club of Cape Coral “Donation Box Project”, please contact Courtney Ackerman at (239) 822-5614, head of the project.

Zonta Club of Cape Coral September “Donation Box Project” boxes supporting Lifeline Family Center are located at the following locations:

* Experience Real Estate Group, 900 Pine Island Rd. 107 Cape Coral, FL 33991, 239.800.9498

* Cape Coral Insurance Group, 820 Lafayette St Cape Coral Florida 33904, 239-471-0600

* Arthur Printing, 1518 SE 46th Ln, Cape Coral, FL 33904, 239-542-2452

* M & Company Hair & Nails, 2517 Santa Barbara Blvd, # 1 Cape Coral, FL 33914, (239) 218-5146

If you are interested in seeing what Zonta Club of Cape Coral is all about, feel free to attend one of the meetings. There is no charge to attend a meeting and there is a different speaker each month. The next meeting is Sept. 26, from 6 7 p.m. at the Gulf Coast Retirement Village at 1333 Santa Barbara Boulevard, where Christa Hicks will be discussing her organization and personal experiences in human traffic with her program “Into the Jordan”. .