As time continues, Piotrowski hopes to continue to improve women’s lives and push us closer to a world that is free of violence towards women.

The Zonta Club of Jamestown is part of a larger international organization of the same name. The Zonta Club has locations in over 60 countries. The first club was formed in Buffalo in 1919, under the leadership of Marian de Forest. Forest, and the rest of the founding members, wished to create the group that would serve as a way of advocating for women. The Jamestown group formed shortly later on Nov. 17, 1921, still making it one of the earliest charters of the group. Modernly, the group provides services that better the lives of women. Some of these include sweatpants in emergency rooms for women who must surrender clothing for evidence, and giving money to several agencies that share a similar goal of woman advocacy. These organizations include the Youth Women Christians Association, the Salvation Army’s Anew Center, and the RISE House. Piotrowski initially joined the group in 2016, after wanting to be a part of an advocacy group for women. After being invited by a member of the group, Piotrowski fell in love with the mission and joined.

“No Violence against women or girls, that would be the perfect world,” said Piotrowski. “If no woman had to live in fear of violence, that would be my goal.”

While no members’ work or efforts go unnoticed, Piotrowski has been recognized for the many contributions that she has delivered the organization over the years. Each member of the group works on at least one of the focused committees.

Several members, including Piotrowski, gather together for a photo.

Piotrowski stated that, in her second year in the group, she joined the advocacy committee. After a bit of time serving, Piotrowski would go on to become the chair for the committee. As the head of this committee Piotrowski was dedicated to bringing further awareness to violence against women, and ended up organizing orange lights to be displayed on City Hall, the Washington Street Bridge, and the Bureau of Public Utilities Silo. Piotrowski noted having received multiple proclamations from the Mayor of the city in the years that she was the committee chair. Additionally, Piotrowski is responsible for the initial organization of a tree planting in Baker Park. All of these ideas and contributions, that Piotrowski was a large part of orchestrating, have become traditions and still occur in some capacity now.

Piotrowski also increased the advocacy, and resources both locally and worldwide, for those experiencing what has been called period poverty. Piotrowski stated that many women worldwide, and even in Jamestown, are not able to keep consistent access to menstrual hygiene products.

As a result, Piotrowski and the committee members began gathering any donations of menstrual products so that the organization could get them to those in need. Piortrowski said that the group distributed the products to organizations such as the St. Susan Center, the RISE House, the Anew Center, and various other locations. Since then, providing these products has gotten a specific budget line from the group and is now managed by the services committee, according to Piotrowski. This has allowed the group to continue providing these essential feminine products to organizations that can distribute them to those in need. This is just one of the group’s initiatives that help women, both locally and internationally.

“When somebody from the community is going to a third-world country, they will ask us for some birthing kits. We’ll assemble them, we put them in a suitcase, and they take them with them,” said Piotrowski. “A birthing kit allows a woman in a third-world country to give birth on a clean surface, it’s the whole purpose of it.”

Piotrowski noted that throughout the time she has been there one of the most memorable moments must be the previously mentioned tree planting at Baker Park. This moment still sticks with Piotrowski after so long due to the incredible poem that was written, and read, by City Arborist Dan Stone. The poem pertained to Zonta and the connection to the tree, according to Piotrowski. Another memorable moment that Piotrowski recounted is from recently. This would be the incredible work of the members in organizing, and distributing, coasters to bars all over the area. These coasters contained QR codes that would provide more information about the organization and its goals, said Piotrowski. Both of these instances seem to have held a special meaning to Piotrowski, whether due to the connection to such a meaningful event or the hard work of members that will ultimately result in the growth of the organization.

Going forward, Piotrowski stated that the organization wishes to continue goals surrounding increasing the number of members, and increase the community knowledge about the group. While Piotrowski is currently the Vice President of the club, she stated that she also serves as the chair of the membership committee. With 61 members currently, there are still recruitment goals that the club must hit to ensure that number remains consistent or growing. The organization has far surpassed the goal for this year of five new members, with eleven having been brought in already, said Piotrowski. While this surpasses the group’s goal, Piotrowski stated that the group is always looking to bring more public awareness to the group, and in return bring in more members.

“The club is open to men as well,” said Piotrowski. “People think it is just for women, but men are allowed to join the club as well. They can advocate for women too.”

Piotrowski is currently in charge of showing individuals, who may be interested in joining, the goals and general structure of the organization. Piotrowski encouraged anybody that is interested in learning more about the organization to reach out. For more information contact jamestown@zontadistrict4.org.