Newly installed president of Zonta Club of Cebu II Zn Petite Garcia stressed that teamwork and shared leadership are crucial to attain success in achieving the goals and objectives of Zonta Club of Cebu II.
Speaking after her installation as club president, Garcia stated that Zonta Club of Cebu II is built on a time-tested foundation of strong leadership and participatory and collaborative membership and the Officers and Members of the Board of Directors are fortunate to lead a group that is fully committed to the Zontian Ideals of Service and Advocacy toward the Empowerment of Women and Gender Equality. She credited past successes to the leadership of former club president, the late Elena Chiongbian Young and the other Past presidents as well as the collective efforts and cooperation of the club members.
As a result of the interesting challenges imposed by the world-wide health crisis she exhorted the members of the club to innovate with smart solutions to mitigate the impact of the pandemic on the club’s ability to remain relevant to the community served and responsive to the needs of partners and beneficiaries. She stressed that now more than ever there is a need to leverage what is considered the one key strength of Zonta, that is, the diversity in skillsets, vocations and professions across our members, many of whom are successful business leaders and professionals.
Garcia was installed as club president by Zonta International District 17 Lieutenant Governor Zn Ofelia Bautista during the installation ceremony held Wednesday, April 14 via Zoom.
Aside from Garcia, also installed were Zn Edwina Wu as Vice-President for Internal Affairs and Zn Mae Elaine Bathan as the new member of the Board of Directors.
The installation ceremony also featured an inspirational talk by Human Resource executive and professional coach Mia Zamora.
Ms. Zamora discussed the topic “Purposive Leadership.” She explained that the current pandemic can be considered as a Black Swan phenomenon, because it is rare and unexpected and has catastrophic impact.
The crisis generated by the pandemic, she said, provides an opportunity for individual members to assess oneself and determine how each one can connect to Zonta’s mission of empowering women through service and advocacy.
According to Zamora, Zonta Club members will have to identify what they could commit to help club fulfill its advocacies.
She ended her talk by saying that ‘Service to humanity is the best work of life.’
The welfare of women has been foremost among the goals of the club, when extending assistance to the community; thus dignity kits (female hygiene kits) have become an important component of donations, given to the evacuees from the Guadalupe creek , and the Naga landslide victims . Likewise, the women PDLs at the Mandaue City BJMP, have been recipients of the same dignity kits.
Zonta Club of Cebu II stepped out of the box, and expanded its service to the community in the early days of the campaign against COVID-19, by supporting the government’s efforts to contain the spread of the infection in the city, by partnering with the UP Medical Alumni Society Cebu chapter and the Cebu City government for the information drive. This was done through a recorida or a van going around with public address system, playing recorded messages on how to protect oneself from getting infected with the SARS CoV 2 virus.
The most recent celebration of the 18 Days of Activism To Say No to Violence Against Women highlighted Republic Act 11313 or the Safe Spaces Act. The principal author, Senator Risa Hontiveros calls it a “game changer”.
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