Zonta Club of Para District Area Inc.
 

The Zonta Quilting project has been in operation since 1994.  In that time several hundred quilts have been distributed to families through the Northern Domestic Violence Service (previously the Para District Women’s Shelter).  These quilts are known as New Beginnings Quilts.  A few years later the club added smaller quilts for the Adelaide Women’s and Children’s Hospital Pediatric Emergency Department.  These quilts are known as Wee Care quilts and are for children who have been involved in accidents.

Primarily this is a service project which began as a fellowship exercise.  It is about sharing of skills and ideas, and fun and fellowship while at the same time helping women and children in need.

Some specific aspects of the project are:

►   All fabrics have been donated as new or recycled.

►   The club purchases the wadding and notions

►   Workshops are held monthly. Not all those attending are quilters or Zontians.  Helpers unpick garments, wash fabrics, provide afternoon tea, iron, and hand stitch the bindings and labels on the quilts.

►   The quilts are distributed annually at the Club’s Handover dinner in May.

►   People interested in joining the workshop, stitching at home or making donations of fabrics are always welcome.

This project has been recognized on a number of occasions in the Premiers Awards during Service Club Week.  It is a service project that this Zonta Club is very proud of and one which it is hoped will continue for many years to come.

Please note that during the Covid-19 pandemic the various restictions led the club to request help, via the Facebook page, with the production of quilts. The response from a number of groups meant there have been more then enough to be quilts/rugs distributed to to the usual recipients. Some extra rugs were donated to StVincent de Paul.



Northern Domestic Violence Service 
  (Women's Safety Services SA)

QUILTING PROJECT
Toiletries Bags
When some women manage to escape a domestic violence situation, they of arrive at the NDVS Shelter with little more than the clothes they are wearing at the time. With this in mind, it has been reported how basic toiletries are gratefully accepted.
The bags, supplied by our Zonta Club, are produced our members, contain basic toiletries, mostly for the women, but also, some for the children, who may have arrived with their mother.
“TICKLED PINK" BAGS PROJECT 
 
This Project was started a few years ago after a request by Breast Care Nurses from Burnside hospital, at which some of our own members had received treatment for breast cancer. The nurses asked if we could supply some sort of bag that patients could use to contain, and at the same time ease discomfort, by supporting wound drain bottles/bags, which many of them need to have in place during their recovery from breast cancer surgery. A prototype was developed and shown to the requesting nurses prior to production of the somewhat simple calico bags, screen-printed with the project’s name and the Zonta Logo in bright pink, to highlight the recognised colour associated with breast cancer support.
More recently another request came for the same sort of item, from the “Hospital at Home” department of the Lyell McEwin Hospital, a facility that our club was already supplying with Zonta Breast Cushions.
 Since its inception, over 60 of the “Tickled Pink” Bags have been distributed for the comfort of women recovering from breast surgery.
Club Service Projects
 
November 2016
This project recently received a Runner-up prize in the Health section of the Premier's Awards which were judged by the ACSO (Association of Combined Service Organisations) Committee. The prize, comprising a framed certificate and $200 was well received by the club. It is the second time this project had been recognised, having received the same prize at the 2010 Premier's Awards.